From: RFaussette@aol.com
Date: Thu Jan 30 2003 - 07:32:46 EST
Is there a sound scientific reason for observing Levitical rules?
Drug-Resistant Staph
Bacteria Found In LA
By Deena Beasley
1-28-3
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A bacterial skin infection that does not respond to
standard antibiotics is showing up for the first time in gay men, raising
concerns that it could spread further, a Los Angeles health official said on
Tuesday. The virulent strain of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or
staph, has caused symptoms like abscesses and boils in a still undetermined
number of gay men, as well as other people, said Dr. Elizabeth Bancroft, a
medical epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County Health Department who is
leading an investigation. "We don't yet have a sense of the magnitude of the
problem," she said. Due to the overuse and frequent misuse of antibiotics --
like using them to treat colds, flu and other viral illnesses -- many
bacteria have learned to outsmart the drugs and have consequently become much
more difficult to treat. The infection showing up in Los Angeles does not
respond to oral antibiotics like penicillin or even Cipro, and some patients
have had to be hospitalized and given powerful intravenous antibiotics,
according to the health department. The staph infection usually needs skin to
skin contact to spread, but records show that it can be contracted in damp,
warm environments like steam rooms, Bancroft said. "The number of reports has
been rising since the end of the summer ... but doctors don't expect to see
(staph) in healthy individuals, they expect to see it in elderly patients who
are in and out of nursing homes," Bancroft said. She said the health
department only recently determined that the infections were the same strain
of bacteria. Past outbreaks of the antibiotic-resistant skin infection have
been seen in groups such as athletes and intravenous drug users who live in
close quarters and share things like gym equipment and towels. An infection
within the gay community is of concern because these men might have more
skin-to-skin contact that could make it easier for the staph infection to
spread, Bancroft said. To find out, the Los Angeles health department is
launching one study to asses the risk of transmission in the gay community
and another to determine the prevalence of the disease. For now, Los Angeles
area doctors are being alerted to the infection trend and encouraged to do
cultures of suspected cases. Bancroft said the county does not yet have the
data to instruct doctors to change their initial antibiotic treatment regimen.
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