Superbug outbreak: a new strain of an old germ

While the so-called “superbug” has been making headlines nationwide, Beebe Medical Center’s Dr. Scott Olewiler, Beebe medical director of infectious disease, finds little reason for old concerns to become a new hysteria.

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacteria with known resistance to the antibiotic methicillin, as well as common antibiotics like oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. While most commonly manifested as a boil-producing skin infection spread by touch, MRSA can be fatal if it enters the bloodstream. In hospitals, where the germ can easily pass from hand to hand to open wound, MRSA presents a serious concern.

A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed MRSA may be infecting patients at 10 times the rate previously estimated.

“It’s a new strain of an old germ,” Olewiler said. “It’s a normal inhabitant on the skin of about 30 percent of the population. This new strain is simply more aggressive.”

Eleven years ago, when Olewiler began his career at Beebe, he saw maybe two cases of MRSA a year. He said he now sees about three a week. While the germ has grown more common, he sees it as relatively easy to take care of and is little more than glorified acne. “I’ve never had a case that didn’t respond to treatments,” he said. “I think there are much more serious threats.”

While he sees no immediate solution, Olewiler considers MRSA a threat to be managed, not solved with a quick fix.

“The answer is not antibiotics,” he said. “I’ll say that 25 times: no antibiotics. People need to see their doctors and get topical treatments. If the treatment’s not working, get a different one.”

There are even simpler methods: good hygiene.

“Hand hygiene is very important,” he said. “Use antibacterial soaps without oily moisturizers. Good Grandma, common sense things that every doctor, nurse and patient should do.”

While MRSA can prove fatal if it enters the bloodstream, Olewiler finds the topical infection much more common.

“I can’t say that [the blood infection] is any more common now than it ever was,” he said.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention searches for a nationwide solution, Olewiler finds little cause for alarm and no reason for hysterics. The solution, if anything, should start at the personal level, with simple things, he said.

Contact Rob Kunzig at KunzigR@Kenyon.edu