What are Superbugs?
Up until a few months ago I had not heard of superbugs, I would have thought they were some kind of new or recently discovered insects that had special abilities.
I started my research by searching superbugs in google. The definition in Wikipedia is:
"Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to withstand the effects of an antibiotic. It is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves naturally via natural selection through random mutation, but it could also be engineered by applying an evolutionary stress on a population. Once such a gene is generated, bacteria can then transfer the genetic information in a horizontal fashion (between individuals) by plasmid exchange. If a bacterium carries several resistance genes, it is called multi resistant or, informally, a superbug."
Now a found another definition by doing an MSN search that was easier for me to understand.
From http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=38448
"Superbug: An informal term for a bacterium that has become resistant to antibiotics usually used to treat it, as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or any multi resistant bacterium. "
How do superbugs affect us?
From my previous search in MSN I found a link for Center for Disease Control.
http://www.cdcfoundation.org/healththreats/AntibioticResistance.aspx
One of the most common types of Superbugs is the MRSA.
It causes an infection that is resistant to several common antibiotics. There are two types of infection. Hospital-associated MRSA happens to people in healthcare settings and Community-associated MRSA happens to people who have close skin-to-skin contact with others, such as athletes involved in football and wrestling.
For a list of risk factors go to:
What can we do to prevent this from happening to us?
Many people carry MRSA on their skin, and most will never get sick from it.
- Wash your hands
- Keep personal items personal
- Keep wounds covered
- Shower after athletic games or practices
- Sit out athletic games or practices if you have a concerning infection
- Sanitize linens
- Get tested. If you have a skin infection that requires treatment, ask your doctor if you should be tested for MRSA
- Use antibiotics appropriately
For more detailed information on prevention go to:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735/DSECTION=8
What can stop these Superbugs?
Just as a finishing up my report I did one last search in Google News and seen this article.
The reason I chose this topic was because last year it hit close to home. A close freind of mine had a scary situation with her 5 year old son. He fell at school and skinned his knee, later when when he got home he did not tell his parents. The little cut was left untreated. A few days later his mom noticed he was walking funny and asked to see what was the matter with his leg. She seen that the wond was infected, she called his doctor and was asked to take him in for a checkup. A few hours later he was in the hospital. He stayed in the hospital for several days fighting MRSA.
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