CA-MRSA: A new bug with a familiar name
Washington -- A new strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has settled into some communities, and physicians everywhere are being warned to keep an eye out for it.
CA-MRSA is infecting seemingly healthy people, often children, and causing primarily skin and soft-tissue lesions such as boils, abscesses and cellulitis, which are frequently misdiagnosed as spider bites.
There is often an incorrect assumption that the skin or soft-tissue infection being treated is caused by a susceptible strain of staph
"In the past, when people saw it was an abscess, they would just assume it was a staph germ and treat it with common antibiotics," Dr. Kaplan said. But those common antibiotics aren't likely to work on this bug.
In addition, there are regional differences, according to an article in the September issue of AAP News, published by the American Academy of Pediatrics. For example, clindamycin-resistant MRSA strains are common in Chicago but infrequent in Houston.
Because there are common themes to the spread of the infections -- including crowding, frequent skin-to- skin contact, compromised skin integrity and contaminated surfaces --
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