MRSA Wages War on Schools and Students

What is MRSA?

Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, shortened to the acronym MRSA (pronounced “Mer-sa”), has been increasing in number for decades, and has recently mounted a full scale assault on our educational system. MRSA, as the name implies, is a Staph bacterium that has mutated to build up a resistance to methicillin and other common antibiotics including penicillin and amoxicillin. Originally discovered in hospitals and sometimes called hospital-acquired MRSA, healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) would invade patients that had come to the hospital for an illness or injury. Now it is known to attack wherever groups of sick or injured people with weakened immune systems may be found, namely nursing homes, same-day surgery centers, and dialysis centers.

H1N1 in your schools – the best prevention and protection

Your students’ health is a big deal to you, and it should be a big deal to your school. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius has said that possibly 30,000 to 90,000 deaths, mostly among young children and young adults, could occur within the year. Up to as many as 300,000 may even need intensive care treatment at hospitals. Since the virus was first discovered during the spring, over 100 countries have been introduced to the H1N1 virus causing the classification of PANDEMIC. Vaccines are now available, but are they your only defense?

The Pandemic - and this is just the beginning

"Authorities in Britain say there were over 100,000 infections in England alone last week, while U.S. health officials estimate the United States has passed the 1 million case mark." (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_he_me/un_who_swine_flu_chief;_ylt=AltyMFiEFQ0e558VNDvdtVwEtbAF)

"U.S. health officials say swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren't successful."
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090724/ap_on_he_me/us_med_swine_flu;_ylt=AvuZk0vssD0lscwQyWfm_xkEtbAF)

We are at the beginning of a worldwide pandemic that has killed over 300 Americans and countless people over the globe. So far the majority of the infections have been mild or have been cleared with the use of the common anti-viral drug Tamiflu. Recently, four cases of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 Influenza have been reported. As viruses have a tendency of doing, this seems to have a strong chance of mutating -- vaccines will not be ready for distribution until October; meanwhile the virus itself is changing.

This version of influenza is also acting differently than normal in that teens and young-adults seem extremely susceptible to the H1N1 virus -- the average influenza bug tends to be the toughest on the elderly and young children.

We are dealing with something unique and scary during this influenza pandemic. The CDC does not believe that this will be as severe as the Spanish Influenza of 1918; however, they are concerned about a possible explosion of the virus once school resumes and the temperature begins to cool. If this occurs and more and more of the cases are Tamiflu-resistant, we will have a very difficult time controlling the problem!

The mutation of the H1N1 virus is impossible to predict; what we can conclude is that no matter the type of virus the mode of transport and infection is the same. We know that people who frequently wash their hands with soap and water or instant hand sanitizer are less likely to contract a virus such as this. We also know that people who do contract the H1N1 virus are more likely to die from complications from a previous ailment and are more likely to contract MRSA and other harmful issues. Schools need to provide their students and staff the products to protect themselves from this illness. Right now, the best chance is to offer hand wipes and sanitizer as we were previously directed by the CDC. These items and more are available in the Classroom CaddyTM. For more information on this product or anything regarding H1N1 or MRSA please visit http://www.armorhealthcare.com/ or call 888-339-2766.

This One-Two Punch Could Prove Fatal

We have all heard by now that this flu season was longer than most due to the H1N1 influenza. We have also heard that this coming flu season in the fall has the potential to be much worse than the average season and much worse than we experienced in the spring; again due to H1N1... We have just learned that people who have the flu are more likely to contract a CA-MRSA infection at the same time!

Just a little background information in case you are not familiar with CA-MRSA; that is Community Associated Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA is a Staph bacterium that has mutated so that commonly prescribed antibiotics do not harm it and it continues to infest a body. HA-MRSA (Hospital Acquired) has been a problem in hospitals for decades because it would infect people (patients) with low immune systems due to illness or surgery while they were in the hospital. More recently people have been reporting similar symptoms without ever having been in a hospital which is the beginning of our CA-MRSA.

Why is this so bad? Influenza + MRSA = Pneumonia! Now I am not saying that every person who gets the flu will also get MRSA, but it is more likely than contracting MRSA sans flu. The reason is that the flu causes sores in the patient's lungs and throat; these sores are how MRSA enters the body and the blood stream. It is at that point that pneumonia is possible, this carries with it "a mortality rate as high as 50 percent among those who contract it."

For more information, please feel free to check out these links:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1692629/new_mrsa_strain_may_be_deadly_for_flu_patients/

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdandFluNews/story?id=4727218&page=1

World now at the start of 2009 influenza pandemic

It was on the news, it was online, it was in the newspapers, everywhere we looked we learned about the spread of a new virus. H1N1, formerly known as the Swine Flu, was everywhere. There were cases spreading through our states, some fatalities were reported, some schools closed. Then this big news didn't seem so big anymore. People began thinking, "Okay, that was mild, time to get back to normal." Not true.

In the United States alone there were 27 deaths due to H1N1. There have been multiple cases of the virus in all 50 states. 500+ schools closed for a minimum of one week. Now we learn that this is a serious issue - this is a pandemic.

A pandemic does not mean that we have to panic. There is no need to barricade yourself in your home or wear surgical masks; you just have to realize that this is not over and you should be cautious. How? The simplest and best way to avoid contracting a contagious virus like H1N1 is to wash your hand frequently. Hand sanitizers and hand wipes have been recommended by the CDC.

Of course Armor Healthcare has these products that are perfect for school environments. The attached link says that the most effected group of people are young people, people under 25 ... how many of those people under 25 are in schools daily? Schools need to protect this vulnerable age group from getting sick, and it is as simple as providing the products that are in our Classroom Caddy. If this pandemic is anything like the influenza outbreaks of our past, this mild spring outbreak will be nothing compared to the problems we could face in the fall - prevention is the best medicine!

The goal of this blog

Armor Healthcare is dedicated to creating healthy environments for children to learn and grow without having to worry about germs and getting sick. Yes, we have products that can kill germs and bacteria, but disinfecting a school can only go so far. Their has to be knowledge and information to back up the cleaning. That is where we hope this blog comes into play.

Here are some surprising facts that we have picked up along the way:

~ MRSA can live on surfaces for up to 90 days.
~ 80% of germs are spread by touch.
~ A child can touch 300 surfaces in just 30 minutes.
~ MRSA is now the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S.
~ There have been 27 U.S. deaths due to H1N1.
~ There is a higher risk of getting germs from a handrail than eating a dead bug.

Stay tuned and we will discuss issues that are important to every community and every school in the United States. We are here to learn about and discuss disease prevention. Ben Franklin said it best "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." For more information about Armor Healthcare, please visit http://www.armorhealthcare.com/.