|
Two recruits training to be police officers at the Delaware State Police Training Academy were recently diagnosed with a contagious staph infection. The entire class was sent home to prevent recruits from living in close quarters and spreading the bacteria. The Delaware Department of Public Health commended the decision and recommended no one should live in the residences determined to be infected with that strain of staph. Recruits now commute to class.
The infected cadets had boils caused by a methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The state’s decision to alter the training program is what Dr. Scott Olewiler, an infectious disease specialist, called a witch hunt. “What a horrible fuss people make out of this,” he said.
He said MRSA is a common bacterium found on about 30 percent of healthy people. It grows on skin and in the nose, but MRSA usually doesn’t cause illness. It is much like the strep bacterium that lives in many people’s throats but usually does not cause a soar throat or illness.
MRSA can infect the skin, causing little more than painful pimples, Olewiler said. People who commonly get the infection are prone to have oily skin with dark pigments. Infections are usually found on people who have problems with hygiene or sweat for long periods of time, such as athletes.
“Every professional football team, every high school wrestling team, every locker room is bound to have an outbreak of infections,” Olewiler said. He said coaches and instructors are often misinformed about MRSA, which leads to overreactions. He said he has treated more than 500 cases of infections in the last 10 years without antibiotics and has a 100 percent success rate. He said MRSA is resistant to some types of antibiotics, but that is irrelevant because proper treatment does not require them.
“I don’t care what the bacteria is resistant to; it doesn’t need to be treated with antibiotics,” Olewiler said. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asserts MRSA should be treated with some types of antibiotics, Olewiler said it’s not necessary because the skin is constantly covered in a layer of bacteria. Taking an antibiotic kills the healthy, positive bacteria and does not kill MRSA, because it’s resistant to that form of treatment. “If you have a neighborhood and suddenly everyone’s gone and there are three bad guys left, what do you think will happen?” he asked. He said taking antibiotics usually makes a MRSA infection worse.
Instead, Olewiler said MRSA should be treated much like acne. He said people can kill much of the staph infection on the skin with antimicrobial soap, such as Dial or Safeguard. “Don’t just rinse off as you lather up, though. Put the soap on and let it rest for one minute. That decolonizes the person and will prevent further outbreaks,” he said.
For large outbreaks, Olewiler said the boils should be treated like an abscess. “The only treatment for that is drainage,” he said. He suggested people should get their boils drained by a healthcare professional to avoid further infection. “You apply a hot washcloth on it three times a day that helps the germ grow and liquefy the skin. Then you drain it.” After the large boils are gone, if MRSA infections spring up, they are easily treated.
For tiny boils or pimples that pop up, Olewiler said people should clean them with benzyl peroxide and apply a prescription cream. “The treatment is topical, topical, topical,” he said.
Olewiler said a MRSA infection is easy to prevent. He said the threat of an infection should not keep people from participating in sports. To prevent an infection, spray or wipe alcohol on all equipment an athlete comes into contact with, including helmets and protective gear. “In 30 seconds it’s evaporated and it’s dry. It’s great because it’s cheap and it works,” Olewiler said.
Every shower, including those in locker rooms, should be stocked with antibacterial soap, such as Dial or Safeguard, he said. “Make sure your children shower after practice and at night.”
If untreated, MRSA boils can lead to further infections. If a boil sits without attention and there is a break in the skin, it could get worse. Olewiler said he has seen about five cases of extreme MRSA infections in which the infection ate away at muscles. “Those cases are usually in obese, sedentary people and often in paraplegics who cannot feel the painful boils and infection,” he said. In some cases, MRSA does lead to blood infections that can attack the heart muscle and lead to high fevers and death, but those cases are extremely rare, Olewiler said.
Contact Molly Albertson at malbertson@capegazette.com
|
