'SuperBug spreading across Australia, researchers say
Pastor Dale Morgan
*'SuperBug spreading across Australia, researchers say*
By Adam Gartrell
May 30, 2008 03:38pm
Article from: AAP
* Antibiotic-resistant bug found in remote communities
* Poor living conditions blamed for MRSA bug
* Bug spreading across Australia, researchers say
APPALLING conditions in remote Aboriginal communities have nurtured
antibiotic-resistant strains of golden staph infection which have spread
across Australia, researchers report.
In the latest Clinical Infectious Diseases journal, Northern Territory
researchers say several strains of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus
aureus, or MRSA, have originated in remote Aboriginal communities.
MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant form of staphylococcus aureus - or
golden staph - which causes skin infections such as boils, abscesses and
skin sores, and severe bone, joint and bloodstream infections.
Poor hygiene, overcrowding and high rates of skin infections and
subsequent antibiotic use in remote Aboriginal communities had all
contributed to the emergence of the new strains, the researchers say.
Improving living conditions for Aborigines should reduce rates of skin
infection and slow the emergence of new community-associated MRSA
strains, lead author Steven Tong said.
"The message is that it's arising from indigenous communities, so we
need to get in there and help fix that up," Dr Tong said.
"But it is having broader impacts. It's not just impacting on remote
Aboriginal communities but the broader population at large as well."
Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health chief executive Mick
Gooda said the report highlighted the urgent need for better housing in
remote communities.
"Studies point to extreme overcrowding in Aboriginal houses with one
finding up to 7.5 people per bedroom and another indicating that nearly
60 per cent of houses have no working facilities for washing children or
clothes," he said.
"These sorts of conditions make it next to impossible to control scabies
and other skin diseases which often lead to antibiotic use and
ultimately to the development of resistant strains."