Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Hospital finds 46 percent of bacteria cases are resistant
Saturday, January 21, 2006 | No comments posted.
MRSA is not a reportable disease in Oregon, meaning there is no statewide tracking of the number of cases.
But laboratories do track those numbers in house.
At Bay Area Hospital in 2004, there were 403 staph aureas cases, with 46 percent antibiotic resistant. That's a jump from 7 percent in 1994. For 2005, hospital officials expect the numbers will show closer to half of all cases will have been antibiotic resistant.
The Oregon Department of Human Services now is tracking all cases of invasive HA-MRSA in three counties in the Portland area (strictly those bacterial strains that originate in hospitals and nursing homes). In 2004, in that area, there were 27 cases per 100,000 people, according to Research Analyst Mike Emerson, in the Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Program. In 15 percent of those cases, the patient died.
A statewide survey of labs in 1996 found 11 percent of staph aureas cases were antibiotic resistant compared to 39 percent in 2003, according to DHS.
But as to the number of MRSA cases that people in the community acquire outside the hospital, Emerson said statisticians have come up with fuzzy guesses. Scientific papers have estimated the invasive cases account for 5 percent of all MRSA. That would mean in Oregon, there are about 540 cases of CA-MRSA per 100,000 people.
For comparison, there were about 440 cases of whooping cough statewide in 2003. Given that, he said, MRSA could be considered a serious problem.
“We don't want to freak people out,” Emerson added. “We want people to be aware of the bug, but to try to prevent it.”
- City Editor Elise Hamner
But laboratories do track those numbers in house.
At Bay Area Hospital in 2004, there were 403 staph aureas cases, with 46 percent antibiotic resistant. That's a jump from 7 percent in 1994. For 2005, hospital officials expect the numbers will show closer to half of all cases will have been antibiotic resistant.
The Oregon Department of Human Services now is tracking all cases of invasive HA-MRSA in three counties in the Portland area (strictly those bacterial strains that originate in hospitals and nursing homes). In 2004, in that area, there were 27 cases per 100,000 people, according to Research Analyst Mike Emerson, in the Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Program. In 15 percent of those cases, the patient died.
A statewide survey of labs in 1996 found 11 percent of staph aureas cases were antibiotic resistant compared to 39 percent in 2003, according to DHS.
But as to the number of MRSA cases that people in the community acquire outside the hospital, Emerson said statisticians have come up with fuzzy guesses. Scientific papers have estimated the invasive cases account for 5 percent of all MRSA. That would mean in Oregon, there are about 540 cases of CA-MRSA per 100,000 people.
For comparison, there were about 440 cases of whooping cough statewide in 2003. Given that, he said, MRSA could be considered a serious problem.
“We don't want to freak people out,” Emerson added. “We want people to be aware of the bug, but to try to prevent it.”
- City Editor Elise Hamner
The comments below are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Not already registered?
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines