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Posts Tagged ‘H1N1 and MRSA’

Swine flu + MRSA

October 23rd, 2009 1 comment

Dr Manoj Jain, infectious disease expert, spoke today on CNN about patients becoming coninfected with H1 N1 and MRSA.   We know that MRSA is very serious.   And this combination of both is doubly dangerous.  Many of the deaths so far from Swine flu are because of coninfections, many with MRSA.  This doctor went so far as to advise all medical providers to consider that a patient with Swine flu and  high white blood cell counts must be considered to be possibly coninfected and appropriate antibiotics  ( he named Vancomycin) be used right away .

So, if MRSA is a cause of increased complications and/or death in flu patients, why isn’t this word out there for patients.  We all  need to know that flu is not always just a mild disease and self limiting.  We need to know  that if we have flu with difficulty breathing and a persistant high fever that we need to be checked for coinfection.  We need to know that flu alone can kill but coinfections are even more likely to cause grave outcomes.

Why dosn’t CDC educate all of us about this?   I would love to see Dr Jain speak out everywhere and spread the word about this threat.  He spoke bravely today on CNN about how medical providers need to consider coinfecitons with all patients who present with flu and high white blood cell counts.  Is this information wide spread amongst our doctors and other healtcare providers?  If not,  it should be.  We as healthcare consumers and patients and all of our healthcare providers need to know that flu with MRSA (or other bacterial co infections)  can kill.  We all must be aware of the symptoms  and the necessity of early intervention.  The consequences are grave if the diagnosis is too late.