Tallahassee Staph Outbreak Possibly Caused By Contaminated Medicine

At least 14 staph infections have been linked to a pain management clinic in Tallahassee, Florida. Patients who were treated at the Pain Insitute of North Florida between March 10 and March 21, 2008 are considered to be at risk.
Officials with the Leon County Health Department are actively investigating the unusually high number of [...]

Community-Acquired Pneumonia Caused by Staph More Common Than Thought

Community-acquired pneumonia caused by staph bacteria may occur more frequently than previously thought, according to study results released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The study gathered data from three pediatric hospitals in the Atlanta area during the 2006-2007 flu season.
The seven month study identified 53 cases of community-acquired pneumonia, or CAP, [...]

Cholesterol Lowering Drug May Render Staph Bacteria Harmless

In their efforts to develop new treatments for drug-resistant staph infections, scientists have obtained positive results using a cholesterol lowering drug that never made it to market. Researchers believe that cholesterol reducing compounds known as squalene synthase inhibitors may work on staph infections, including methicillin resistant staph, by rendering the bacteria vulnerable to the [...]

Staph Contamination Prompts Cheese Recall

High levels of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria have been discovered in cheese from Grassy Meadows dairy of Howe, Indiana during routine inspections. Consumers in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio are being advised by Indiana state officials to avoid consumption of Grassy Meadows cheese purchased before Wednesday, January 30, 2008.
The contaminated cheeses were made from raw milk, [...]

Rapid MRSA Test Now Available in the U.S.

American medical professionals now have a new weapon in their anti-Staph arsenal. Last week the Food and Drug Administration approved a blood test that can detect the superbug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in under two hours.
The new test, manufactured by BD diagnostics, identified 100 percent of MRSA-positive specimens in clinical trials. [...]

MRSA Related Hospitalizations Surge More Than 100%

Hospitalizations caused by the Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are on the rise in the United States, ballooning 62% between 1999 and 2005. During the same period, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, accounted for a 119% jump in hospitalizations, reports a new study in the December 2007 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases published by the Centers for [...]

MRSA: Not the Only Killer Staph

The death of a high school outside linebacker in Plano, Texas serves as a stark reminder that the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is not unique in its ability to quickly take lives. Fifteen-year-old Chad Jeter injured his leg while skateboarding on Thanksgiving and succumbed to a staph infection last week, but it wan’t [...]

Vaccine Research Yields Promising Results in the Prevention of Lethal Staph Infections

One day soon, antibiotic resistant staph infections might be preventable with a simple vaccine.
Research scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a vaccine that has been successful in blocking the onset of staph infections in laboratory mice. The promising vaccine will make it possible for the body to easily fight off staph by [...]

MRSA Outbreak at West Virginia State University was Exaggerated

Four confirmed cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) were diagnosed among West Virginia State University in October 2007, not nine as originally announced. The inflated figures were due to misreporting by students and lack of adequate medical confirmation. Some of the students had staph infections that, unlike MRSA, could be easily treated with [...]

8 Boone County, Kentucky Students with Staph Infections Do Not Have MRSA

Residents of Boone County, Kentucky received good news today when they learned that the eight reported staph infections at Larry A. Ryle High School in Union are not antibiotic-resistant strains. It had been previously feared that the eight students had contracted methicillin-resistant staph infections (MRSA), but laboratory cultures revealed the infections were caused by [...]