MRSA Airborne Strikes Again, This Time in Belen
http://www.koat.com/health/30183171/detail.html
MRSA airborne has affected the Belen High School in New Mexico. They have cleaned the gym over and over again but seem to still be having outbreaks. They are concerned that many of the students are not taking home their change of clothes and washing them frequently enough. 12 students have reported having staph infections. The school was concerned they had not warned parents soon enough.
MRSA airborne is just that “airborne”. Too many people think you can only get it from direct contact from another infected individual; this is the most common way to become infected with these insidious bacteria. However, touching surfaces, wearing clothes, or using towels or even soap or deodorant that have come in contact with an infected person or the bacteria that has settled on a surface can also infect others with MRSA airborne.
When patients enter hospitals many are swabbed for MRSA in their nostrils. How did it get into their nostrils many may inquire? Would airborne MRSA be too much for us to deal with in our hospitals, clinics, laboratories, schools, gyms and any other place of assembly?
A quote from research done in 2001 in Japan it states, “In this study, it was confirmed that MRSA could be acquired by medical staff and patients through airborne transmission.”1
So why doesn’t anyone talk about this? It is not anything recently discovered. We are talking ten years ago. Be sure to think about Photocatalytic Oxidation air purification along with all the other cleaning/sanitation practices currently used to reduce the spread of MRSA airborne.
1. "Significance of Airborne Transmission of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in an Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Unit" by Teruo Shiomori, MD, PhD; Hiroshi Miyamoto, MD, PhD; Kazumi Makishima, MD, PhD. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg.2001; 127:644-648