On Oct 16th this year, it is said in a governmental investigation report published on the Journal of the American Medical Association that “super germs” exhibit a tendency of spread in USA and it is anticipated that about 90 thousand of people will be infected each year.
In fact, the medical name of “super germs” is “methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus” (MRSA), it is a kind of Staphylococcus aureus that is highly resistant to penicillin and some of the strains also exhibit resistance to other antibiotics. This kind of bacterium was discovered as early as 1960s and it had almost spread to all over the world in the past 40 years. The occurrence of “super germs” is also seen occasionally in the hospitals in our country and it is one of the important pathogenic bacteria for the cross contamination in hospitals.
The experts presume that “super germs” are in the known risk factors for infections and using antibiotics of wide spectra in large amounts for a long term is one of the important reasons. This kind of germ appealed the high awareness of our country as early as 1970s and a great deal of work has been performed to control infections of this germ in the hospital by the clinical experts and infection experts in our city. It can be said that relatively intact monitoring system on the infections in the hospital has been established. This system will discover the spread of this germ in time if the spread exists. Therefore, residents in our city need not to worry about it and be in panic.
When people are infected by “super germs”, the clinical symptoms show no obvious differences to that of the infection of Staphylococcus aureus. The main symptoms of over 90% of the infected people are soft tissue infection in the skin, such as furuncle, carbuncle and cellulitis, but diseases in respiratory and hematological system can be seen in a few people. It will be relatively difficult to treat if septicaemia or other pathological changes in important organs are induced after infected with this kind of germ since it is highly resisted to many drugs to prevent bacterias.
The main route of transmission of the infection of “super germs” is contact infection and the main sources of infection are the patients or the carriers. The ”super germs” can also be transmitted by respiratory tract and lead to infections in the respiratory system if it is dispersed in the air.
In the aspect of prevention, using antibiotics reasonably and preventing people from abusing antibiotics should be the first, and it is the most important method to prevent the spread of ”super germs”. And the second is reinforcing the monitoring on the infections in hospitals, “discovering, diagnosing and treating as early as possible”is an important method to prevent the spread of ”super germs”and reduce the mortality. Now a set of intact monitoring system for infections in the hospital has been established in our city, and ”super germs”have been included in the scope of monitoring for several years. The third is reinforcing the system of sterilizing and isolating as well as the hand sanitation. At present the hospitals in our city require all of the doctors to sterilize and wash hands after checking the patients, and one-time mouth-muffles, gloves and caps should be used in order to prevent the cross contamination in hospitals.
Not abusing antibiotics is the most important for the public to prevent the spread of “super germs”. Some people like to take antibiotics, getting from the family medical case or buying in adjacent drugstores, if they have a fever or loose bowels. This is not correct at all since not all of the diseases are induced by bacterial infection, abusing antibiotics is not only ineffective but also induces the disorder of normal flora in the human body, leading to the risk of infection of “super germs”. Furthermore, washing hands frequently, not sharing private utensils with other people, washing bed sheets frequently with hot water, drying or ironing the clothes and so on, can all effectively prevent the infection and spread of “super germs”.