MRSA- doctors and scientists in trouble

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The

term is used to describe a number of strains of the bacteria,
Staphylococcus aureus, that are resistant to a number of
Antibiotics including methicillin. Nowadays antibiotics are
prescribed even for mild diseases, because of that the antibiotics,
like Vancomycin or Rifampicin, used to treat MRSA becomes
resistant to the bacterium that causes this infection. This has the
consequence of increasing rate of affected patients, which leads to
an increased number of deaths.

Modern Humanities Research Association (MHRA) is working

hardly on finding new drugs and improving the hygiene in
hospitals.

MRSA what is also known as “Staph” is an infection which is of the

skin and tissues. “Staph” forms toxins which can lead to food
poisoning. Normally it is treated by antibiotic, what is really
effective, but these strains of bacteria changed their genetic code
and make them antibiotic resistant. So the MRSA is resistant to the
antibiotics methicillin, oxacilin, amoxacillin and penicillin.

MRSA is found in:

1. The nasal passages (most common)
2. The surface of the skin especially the hands
3. In and around the anus
4. Clothing
5. Hospital equipment
6. Spider Bite
7. IV Drugs use
8. Sports Team
9. Poverty
10.Incarceration

MRSA is spread by contact, with moist areas. For this reason,

it’s important to wash the hands and be hygiene

How is MRSA treatable?

MRSA is resistant to a number of different antibiotics, so it is
harder to treat than against non- resistant bacteria. But MRSA is
not resistant to all antibiotic, there are some strains of MRSA could
be treated with vancomycin, teicoplanin and mupirocin. (Who has
got a weekend immune and has become already MRSA is the best
treatment with vancomycin, teicoplanin and mupirocin.) These
antibiotics are given as an injection by a doctor in a hospital.
Antibiotics
Antibiotic comes from Greek and means against life
because bacterium is a life form. These antibiotics are
used to fight against bacterium.

Vancomycin
It is indicated for the treatment of serious, life-threatening
infections by Gram-positive bacteria which are unresponsive to
other less toxic antibiotics.

Rifampicin
Rifampicin is another type of antibiotics that is used to kill
the bacterium caused by MRSA.
Bacterium
Are small organisms (but not as small as viruses) that causes
illness to animals and human.

MRSA can get everyone but the most of the people are over 80+.

For this statement I show you a graph:

This graph shows you how old are the people who were infected
with this disease. The x-axis stands for the age and the y-axis
stands for number of people who were infected. We see that the
elderly people are affected by this disease. But we see also that
males are more affected by this disease than females. In total, 78
patients were diagnosed with a MRSA infection (47 male and 31
female) with a mean age 66.4 years. MRSA occurred in 75 trauma
patients and 2 in elective patient (97% and 3%). 62 MRSA patients
were isolated from wounds and other sites includes sputum, urine
and blood.

WHAT are the benefits and risks of using antibiotics

against MRSA?
The benefits of using antibiotics are that a treatment was found to
heal MRSA. These powerful antibiotics kills bacterium in preventing
formation of their cell wall, making them enable to live in the human
body or stopping from replicating themselves.

But if the treatment not works and the most of the bacteria dies
and. They become resistant then they are immune against
antibiotics. This Immune reaction comes to a position if the
antibiotics are used over.
This diagram shows you how antibiotics work successfully against
bacteria and how antibiotic doesn’t work so well against the
bacteria. In the first picture antibiotics are earlier than the
bacterium so they aren’t immune against the antibiotics but in the
second picture the antibiotics are too late so the bacterium
survives under a cover and are immune against the antibiotics. So
the bacterium is immune against this bacterium forever. Some
microorganisms are equipped with genes that give them resistance
against these antibiotics. This resistance can take the form of the
split have the antibiotic molecule or the rejection of the cell.... so
the Organisms with these genes can transfer them to other bacteria
and thereby immunize them as well. Each year over 94,000 people
are infected with 19,000 deaths, more than the rate of caused by
HIV. There was a very rapid increase from 2% to 64%. The MRSA
transfer from human to animal, like horse, and it is of concern. The
Transmission between animals and humans has also been raised.

What must I do if I have MRSA?

When MRSA is observed in early stage then it can be treated with
success and the better the prognosis.

Drainage of pus is the main surgical treatment of MRSA infections.

Items (tampons) or foreign bodies (artificial heart valves, or
pacemakers), which can be serve source of infection need to be
removed if appropriate antibiotic therapy is unsuccessful.0

Other areas that lead to MRSA and may need surgical interventions
are joint infections. Even with antibiotic therapy patients are dying
because of week immune system.

Social issues
44% of population discharged from hospitals are attacked by MRSA
and it become a very big public issue among the social community.

Additionally it says that the number of MRSA doubled in just 4

years. Therefore the scientists continuously developing new drugs,
but before a drug can be prescribed, it needs to undergo several
trials by the MHRA.

Economic issues
MRSA requires new treatments and more researches which leads
also to economical issues. Then the new treatments will cost more
and it is expensive. It takes a lot of money and time to develop new
drugs , then the doctors start to prescribe rarely working
antibiotics, which makes drug companies less enthusiastic about
the developing the new medications. (It needs £3000000 to develop
an effective infection control practices in hospital.)
Conclusion:
MRSA is a pressing, global health problem, because the antibiotics
used becomes resistant.

MRSA is a bacterial infection, which could be mild or fatal. The first

symptoms are red, swollen, and painful pimples or boils that may
contain pus or discharge and more serious infections may cause
blood stream infection, or surgical wound infections.

Patients are treated with antibiotics; the resistant microorganisms

that you hep create can become widely established, causing new
and hard to treat infections.

Therefore scientists are researching for alternative solutions, like

light Therapy, which seems to become a successful therapy.

(This diagram shows you the Spread-of-MRSA in Europe

We see too that in Portugal the disease MRSA is spread over 50 %.)
More scientists are working on alternative methods:
1. Light Therapy
2. A new type of antibiotics

1. Light Therapy

Current discoveries show that more bacteria develop resistant

against antibiotics. This leads them to think for an alternative
pathway: Light therapy. Researches on photo medicine are poised
to have a huge impact on how doctors respond to serious drug
resistant staph infections MRSA.

At Well man centre for photo medicine at Massachusetts general

hospital are researching on light therapy. It is nothing new for
human aliments. The Wellman Centre for performed their first tests
on animals. They deeply focus the light on a wound infected with
MRSA and this forms a chemical process, which makes the
bacteria to die without harming the animal. Similar mehod can be
used for MRSA patient. Antibiotic therapies take days or weeks and
shows side effects.

A new type of antibiotic

The British drug discoveries development company and
colleague, Prolysis; have produced a new type of
antibiotics that kill the bacteria of MRSA. These drugs
block the action of the protein, which is needed to stop the
growth.

WRITTEN BY ARULKUMARAN LOGANATHAN

1375 words
 COURSE
WORK
MRSA
BIOLOGY
MR.SHEEHAN
BY
ARULKUMARAN
LOGANATHAN