Community Corner

You Don't Want to Catch Drug -Defying Superbug Health Officials Say Has Jumped to Communities

Cases of the persistent staph infection are reaching beyond medical facilities. Now, it's infecting Michigan school kids, soldiers, prison inmates and and even professional athletes.

Just in time for the holidays and all that close contact that defines the season comes this cheery warning from health officials – an antibiotic resistant superbug, a form MRSA, is springing up seemingly out of nowhere and  picking off otherwise healthy people, subjecting them to flu-like symptoms that get worse and worse and worse.

Ho-ho-ho.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRCA, is commonly referred to as an ordinary Staph infection. But there’s nothing ordinary about a new drug-resistant strain, a USA Today investigation revealed. In one case cited in the report, a patient developed flu-like symptoms, was coughing up bits of lung tissue within 24 hours and lapsed into a coma, his organs failing.

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Doctors are alarmed by how rapidly that patient and two others at a Lexington, KY hospital deteriorated – and confounded. MRSA was once confined mainly to hospitals and other healthcare facilities, but now the persistent superbug has jumped to communities.

What’s perplexing public health officials now is that the drug-defying superbug – perhaps the nation’s most daunting public health challenge, the report said– is that it’s jumping from hospitals and medical facilities to places like schools, prisons, military platoons and athletic locker rooms.

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“It’s not about winning or losing the battle (against MRSA), it’s the battle is shifting,” said Ramanan Laxminarayan, a Princeton University scholar who heads up the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy. “You’re seeing people who are young and healthy getting this (in the community) and it’s very serious … “

In metro Detroit, schools from Northville to Belleville to St. Clair Shores have reported MRSA infections.

In August, Northville High School reported a handful of cases, added two additional custodians to its day shift, switched to a more aggressive disinfectant and cleaning schedule and took additional measures.

But in November, the defiant superbug was back and  officials at Northville High School alerted parents that another student was being treated for MRSA.

Later that month, the school and the Wayne County Department of Public Health created a video broadcast to all students to raise awareness about MRSA and how to control its spread.

Also in November, a Lakeview High School student in St. Clair Shores was diagnosed with the hardy strain of Staph. The student was in high school, but was a teacher cadet at Greenwood Elementary.

The school district took “immediate action” to alert parents and immediately went about sanitizing and disinfecting surfaces, though it warned the bacteria is spread mainly by person-to-person contact.

The Mt. Clemens Community School District closed all of its buildings for a thorough cleaning last May after two staff members were diagnosed with the drug-defying superbug.

Michigan Doesn’t Track Individual Cases

The problem is, the USA Today investigation revealed, is that government statistics don’t reflect the full extent of the problem. Sources quoted in the report estimated that MRSA sickens thousands of people every year and claims as many as 20,000 lives a year. Symptoms  may range from minor skin boils to deadly pneumonia.

The extent of MRSA in the Mitten State is not known because individual cases aren’t reported, the Michigan Department of Community Health says. However outbreaks – three or more positive cases in a facility or community that are epidemiologically linked or where transmission or spread is plausible – are reported to the local health jurisdiction.

Who’s At Risk?

Staph infections are common, but the report says most at risk are those individuals who:

  • Are around an infected person.
  • Live in crowded conditions.
  • Play in close-contact sports.
  • Have poor personal hygiene.
  • Have recently used antibiotics.
  • Are an IV drug user.
  • Have a weakened immune system.
  • Are a man who has sex with men.

What Are the Best Ways to Prevent MRSA?

Common antibiotics are ineffective in treating MRSA, although the drug Vancomycin has had some success. Here are some preventive measures from the CDC and other sources:

  • Careful hand-washing is the most effective defense against MRSA
  • Clean shared athletic equipment.
  • Use a barrier between skin and shared equipment in health clubs, saunas and gymnasiums.
  • Don’t share personal hygiene items such as razors or towels.
  • Avoid contact with surfaces contaminated with wound drainage.
  • Keep infected areas covered with clean, dry bandages. 


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