Word: aureus
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Patients who suffer from pulmonary infections or painful skin burns caused by staphylococcus aureus, a pathogenic bacteria which sometimes infects hospital patients after surgeries, may have even more to worry about...
...December 6, 1997, issue of The Lancet, an international medical journal published in Great Britain, Dr. Keiichi Hiramatsu of Tokyo's Juntendo Hospital reported that 20 percent of all staphylococcus aureus has become resistant to vancomycin, the only universal drug for the bacteria. It afflicts nearly one million of the 23 million Americans who undergo surgery annually, especially infants and the elderly...
...caused by a toxin-producing strain of the common bacterium, Staphylococcus aureus, carried benignly in the respiratory and genital tracts of perhaps one out of three people. Under certain conditions -- a wound, some infections, the presence of a tampon or contraceptive sponge -- the bacteria multiply. If the toxin-producing strain is present, such proliferation can lead to TSS. The symptoms are dramatic and develop quickly: high fever, a sunburn-like rash, severe vomiting and diarrhea, culminating in shock, in which blood pressure plummets and circulation deteriorates. Doctors usually try to head off this life-threatening condition by administering intravenous fluids...
MacDonald speculates that the influenza virus can injure the throat or lungs in a way that favors the growth of S. aureus. Though the complication appears to be rare, it is urgent that doctors be aware of it, says TSS Expert Bruce Dan, in an editorial that accompanied MacDonald's paper. Early recognition and treatment of the syndrome "is the most important factor in being able to prevent fatalities," says Dan. "It behooves all physicians to be on the lookout for any influenza patient whose condition suddenly worsens...
Though TSS is widely feared, relatively few people are vulnerable. Doctors estimate that by age 20, 95% of the U.S. population have been exposed to Staph. aureus toxin and have developed immunity. Of the remaining 5%, some may be genetically incapable of developing immunity. These women and men may actually suffer more than one bout of TSS, which can be treated with antibiotics...