MRSA the Superbug and the VERY BAD IDEA

So the other day I am chatting with an RN on a case.  She told me that a patient was put on a course of Vancomycin.  I asked her if the patient had MRSA, which is a condition that can only be treated by "Vanco" (as the drug is affectionately called).  She told me that no, the patient doesn't have MRSA, but rather that the hospital tends to put people on Vanco on admit as part of thier protocol, and then take them off if the cultures come back negative.

For reasons discussed below, this is a VERY BAD IDEA.

This is an interesting link that describes the problem from a different aspect:
Superbug’ patient treated at MGH


I wrote the following letter to my friend Cherelle Jackson, who is a Samoan Journalist:

Hey sweetie! How ya doing?



Listen, I came across this article and I thought about Samoa. You see, Samoa, along with many other counties in the developing world tend to offer antibiotics over the counter to anyone that asks. People will self-diagnose and take the antibiotics when they are not needed, or worse yet, they will take just a few pills and stop taking them when they feel better.

This causes the bacteria that the antibiotics are trying to kill become "resistant". (Please forgive me if you know this already.) Basically, you are killing all the bacteria that are weak and are left with just a few strong bacteria. (This is why you start to feel better a few days after taking an antibiotic.) However, if people stop taking their antibiotics at this point, then the "strong" bacteria will multiply and reinfect the person. After a few generations, the bacteria becomes resistant to the antibiotic and the antibiotic stops working.

The real scary thing is that some "bugs", like MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, methicillin is an antibiotic and staphylococcus aureus is the name of a bacteria,) are already resistant to all but a few antibiotics. If they become resistant to the few antibiotics that are left, then we will truly have a pandemic on our hands!!!

The reason that I think that you should write about this is that your audience includes a lot of the people in the Pacific Islands that are part of the groups that tend to misuse antibiotics. If people were to only take antibiotics that are prescribed by a doctor, and take ALL the antibiotics, then this would help to slow the problem-- hopefully until newer, stronger antibiotics are developed.


Anyway, I really think that there is a story in this and I think that this is information that is vital to know. Tell me what you think.

Love,

Kim