Staph News » Maryland

Maryland Expected to Begin Tracking Hospital-Acquired MRSA Infections

Staph News Editor — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:50:01 +0000

The Maryland Health Care Commission, an independent state regulatory agency, is expected to vote today for the state to consider methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, a reportable disease. There is currently no requirement for Maryland state and local health departments to track and record MRSA, the virulent superbug that can develop into a lethal infection.

Consideration of new reporting requirements began earlier this fall following an outbreak of over twenty MRSA infections in Montgomery County students. While none of those cases were fatal, a Maryland special education teacher died from MRSA-related complications earlier this month.

The Commission is currently seeking to develop a system for collecting and distributing data on healthcare-associated MRSA infections, not the community-acquired strain that has been at the center of media attention in recent weeks. However, the Commission is recommending a statewide public information campaign to underscore the importance of handwashing in preventing the spread of MRSA.

Maryland Teacher’s Death Linked to MRSA

Staph News Editor — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:34:26 +0000

A Montgomery County, Maryland teacher died on Sunday, December 9, 2007 due to complications related to the dangerous superbug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Merry King, 48, was a resident of Silver Spring and taught special education students at Herbert Hoover Middle School in Rockville.

Rockville, Maryland is close to Baltimore, the area with the highest rate of MRSA infections in the United States.

King had been absent from her job at Herbert Hoover Middle School since November 30, 2007, and was hospitalized on December 4 after pain throughout her body worsened, her daughter told the Washington Post. She succumbed to the MRSA infection on Sunday evening after six days in a coma.

There is no indication that King contracted the MRSA infection at the Herbert Hoover Middle School. A school spokesperson said no one at the school was at increased risk of developing drug-resistant staph, but King’s classroom was sanitized with a bleach solution as a precautionary measure.

Baltimore Has Highest Rate of Staph Superbug Infections in the Nation

Staph News Editor — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 05:21:20 +0000

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, gained national attention last month when four American children died from complications related to the virulent superbug. In a study published in the October 17, 2007 Journal of the American Medical Association, The Centers for Disease Control reported that United States deaths attributed to the MRSA bacterium exceeded HIV/AIDS fatalities in 2005. The study found that the rate of MRSA infection was highest in Baltimore, Maryland.

The rate of MRSA infection in Baltimore was recorded as nearly 117 per 100,000 in 2005. That rate is well over three times higher than the average infection rate of 31.8 per 100,000 recorded in the study. The other areas studied were:

The State of Connecticut
The Atlanta, Georgia, metropolitan area
Davidson County, Tennessee
The Denver, Colorado, metropolitan area
Monroe County, New York
The Portland, Oregon metropolitan area
Ramsey County, Minnesota
The San Francisco, California metropolitan area

It is unclear why the rate of MRSA infections is so high in Baltimore, according to the principal investigator for the Maryland Active Bacterial Core Surveillance, the group that collected the Baltimore data. Laura Herrera of the Baltimore City Health Department mentioned that chronic diseases have been found to be more common in urban areas.

The study also found that more Baltimore residents acquired the infection in the community (almost 63 cases per 100,000) than in hospitals (almost 20 cases per 100,000.)