Antibiotic-resistant superbug causes deadly skin boils

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"While no cases have yet been reported outside hospitals in Alameda County, a rise in the infections -- particularly among gay men -- in San Francisco prompted the city's public health department to launch a surveillance program this week....

 

"The pathogen causes painful skin boils and abscesses, and can lead to potentially fatal blood infections and heart damage. The bug is spread through casual contact, although it's not as easily acquired as highly infectious conditions like the common cold or influenza...."

 

Here's the link to the article:

 

http://www.sanmateocountytimes.com/Stories/0,1413,87~2425~1161882,00.html?search=filter

 

Anyone know anything more about this?

[trilingual]

Recent newspaper articles report outbreaks in a number of cities, including S.F., L.A. and N.Y. These infections are appearing in men who are HIV-negative as well as positive. Of course, someone who's positive is likely to be at higher risk of complications from such an infection.

 

Staph infections that cause boils evidently can be transmitted by close contact (i.e., skin-to-skin). Years ago I spent Carnival in Florianopolis (Brazil) with a potential future ex-husband. We spent a lot of time together in close contact, as we were sleeping in the same bed. During our stay he developed a painful boil along his Speedo waist line. He had it lanced at a local health clinic and was given some anti-biotics to take and it seemed to clear up. Weeks later, after I had returned to the U.S., I developed a boil on my side and ended up having to get anti-biotics myself. It did clear up fairly quickly, but it came back a couple of times (requiring more anti-biotics) before disappearing for good. Prior to this (and after it cleared up permanently) I've never experienced a boil, so I could only conclude that somehow I had picked up the infection from my partner.

 

The idea of drug-resistant staph is scary; it's a nasty infection and can have very serious consequences.