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A dangerous drug-resistant bacterium has spread to patients in Southern California, according to a study by Los Angeles County public health officials.
More than 350 cases of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, or CRKP, have been reported at healthcare facilities in Los Angeles County, mostly among elderly patients at skilled-nursing and long-term care facilities, according to a study by Dr. Dawn Tera#a, an epidemiologist with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
It was not clear from the study how many of the infections proved fatal, but other studies in the U.S. and Israel have shown that about 40% of patients with the infection die. Tere#a was not available for comment Thursday morning but was scheduled to speak about the study in the afternoon.
The pathogen is even resistant to specialized drugs developed to treat difficult infections. "This is considered a threat to patient safety," according to the county, because such antibiotics "often are the last line of defense."
"We've been monitoring the rise of this organism for a few years at CDC," he said. "Initially, it was first described in North Carolina, and then we started getting reports in the New York and New Jersey area. We are seeing reports of this organism all over the country now."
He stressed that unlike MRSA and other superbugs, CRKP has not spread in communities but remains confined to healthcare facilities.
"The key is that it remains pretty rare in most places," he said, although, "there are pockets of the country where they are encountering this a lot, like New York City."
Originally posted by Chrisfishenstein
Sounds like population control to me. Start with the elderly to see if it works, and move on to overpopulated areas. Start of a good conspiracy in my eyes. How about your eyes??
Originally posted by Under Water
I wonder why this is only happening in hospitals and nursing homes?edit on 25-3-2011 by Under Water because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by boncho
Originally posted by Under Water
I wonder why this is only happening in hospitals and nursing homes?edit on 25-3-2011 by Under Water because: (no reason given)
Hospitals: sick people congregate there.
Nurses Homes: Old, weak immune systems congregate there.
Originally posted by SaturnFX
confined to hospitals?
Why does my wacky conspiracy mind race to conclusions on that tidbit of information...aha, thats one way to drop the healthcare costs..make hospitals a hazard to go to and people will choose to tough it out in their home verses goto the hospital.
ok, wacky conspiracy theory over.
Originally posted by Raist
The things that go around in a nursing home are terrible.
My father just entered such a home last year due to the number of strokes he has had. Last year he was in a nursing home in another county and he slipped and hit his foot on a wall in the cleaning area (despite the "help" that was there) and got an abrasion on his foot. Over time it got infected, whether from the initial scrape or just poor care is not known.
Around this time I moved him to a nursing facility in the city I live in so that I could see him more often. I would take care of him but he needs full time care and with a job and family I just cannot make it work, that and I have no training for such care.
Not long after moving into this facility the wound had gotten even worse. No amount of antibiotics were even touching the infection, which was at this point a bone infection. His foot and lower leg reminded me of my aunt who had diabetes. The infection was so bad because he had low blood circulation in his legs. To make a long story short he lost his right leg just above the knee, and his left leg is of little use and has low circulation as well.
After the surgery he seems to be much better his spirits are up and seems to be who he was before the infection that was rotting his foot and leg the whole time.
I hate the nursing facilities and hospitals. I feel disgusted and do not like touching anything when I go into them.
Raist