Typical MRSA Symptoms:
(1) Naive Medical Incompetence
Or (2) Just Plain Stupidity?!

Someone recently asked: "Why have MRSA symptoms and the infamous MRSA superbug only been around for the past few years? I mean years ago it was never heard of? Why has it only just started appearing in the past few years?"!

I answered:

"Good question, and there is no doubt that suffering MRSA symptoms is a scary prospect... but IMHO (and in a nutshell) for a major cause of the problem we need look no futher than to the fact that there has been an vastly increased use of antibacterial handwash and cleaning solutions in hospitals over the last decade which has a LOT to answer for... along with other things.

MRSA -- which you will already, perhaps, know -- is the acronym for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (sometimes also referred to as 'multi-resistant') due to having evolved resistance to any formerly effective anti-biotics.

This bacteria is a close relative of a typical strain of microbe simply called Staphylococcus aureus (commonly referred to as Staph aureus -- often confused with the word 'Staff'!) that naturally exists in places like the ears, noses and throats (and other moist/mucis membrane areas) of around 30 to 40% of us.

Staph. aureus is also well-known as a potential food poisoning bacteria, and because it lives in moist areas like the nose and throat it is often found on hands due to regular habitual touching of the mouth and nose areas. This is why food handlers HAVE to be scrupulously clean and hygienic, and fastidious about hand-washing, in order to avoid transmission of the 'bug' to food. This is also why - despite many BAD examples shown on TV - cooks and chef's should NEVER repeatedly use a spoon to taste sauces, soups or stew, etc., without thouroughly cleaning the utensil between EVERY use! But I digress...

So, in effect, Staphylococcus aureus has developed a strain that is now resistant to anti-biotic treatments making it very hard to deal with once it infects a person. Those who are already compromised - such as patients in hospital - are expecially susceptible to such infection. But why has this come about? Well here's the theory...

Bacteria reproduces about every 10 to 30 minutes (the actual speed depending on the species), so in optimal conditions a 'new generation' will emerge very quickly. It is a simple fact that evolutionary theory predicates that when adverse conditions occur and/or persist over time only the 'fittest' survive. For humans, with a lifespan of 70 to 80 years this can lead to tens of thousands of years passing before gradual changes take place. But with bacteria, due to their life cycle of 'minutes', evolution can take place so much more quickly -- say a couple of years (see the MRSA Bacteria Math here!). So any 'mutant' Staph. aureus that were 'naturally' resistant to, say, antibacterial hand soap or antibacterial cleaning solutions would survive the regular onslaught of 'hygiene procedures' so prevalent in hospitals.

These 'resistant strains' may initially have numbered just the odd one or two bacteria, but you can see how they would quickly be the only type to thrive and become more dominant, particularly in places where antibacterial products are used incessantly - but often inefficiently! Nature and evolution simply DEMANDS that this is the case.

It is just plain naive stupidity on the part of a supposedly 'intelligent' species like Mankind to expect anything different to happen...No matter how 'powerful' the marketing, or pretty the packaging of anti-bacterial soaps and hand-wash products are -- they are potentially a major hazard to our health!!!

Overuse of anti bacterial products along with the now well-acknowledged over use/abuse of anti-biotic medications, particularly throughout the 1970's and into the 80's, has hence led (as would be obvious to any microbiological novice) to the evolution of multi-resistant strains of bacteria, so-called superbugs such those that cause MRSA symptoms. And whilst Methicillin Resisitant Staphylococcus Aureus steals most of the media headlines - rest under no illusion that this is the only emerging problem! There are already numerous other resistant strains of bacteria that are rapidly making our hospitals risky places to end up in! (The 'clue' here is that we NEED to do more to take responsibility for KEEPING ourselves well and avoid having to be admitted to such places - at all costs! But that's another article: e.g. How to boost your immune system naturally.)

But as far as the average consumer is concerned - and simply reiterated - antibacterial soap, bathroom products, hand-wash and washing-up liquids, and the like, are dangerous products as they open the door to the development of resistant strains of bacteria. They have no place in a domestic home or a hospital and YOU should stop using them immediately, IF you care about your family's health and wellbeing.

Straighforward, good old-fashioned hygiene practices were, and still ARE, adequate to reduce the risk of bacterial contamination to a minimum. BUT this antibacterial 'overkill' policy has resulted in an obvious evolutionary solution in the development of resistant strains. Hence MRSA symptoms are already a feared possibility whenever an admission to your local hospital is required. I personally cannot believe that the medical fraternity have been so negligent and shortsighted!
(Scrub that -- I can quite believe it...AND then, as stated, it will become evident in the next few years that there are a lot more problems destined to emerge from the so-called 'modern medicine' sector...watch this space!)

Profiteering manufacturers of domestic anti-bacterial products evidently do not care (maybe don't know???) about this issue as they keep introducing additional products to the market. So be prepared for more bad news of resistant strains to emerge in future years, whilst ever the consumer is naive and ill-informed enough to fall for buying such products. Mark my words -- soon it will not only be hospitals were MRSA symptoms are being suffered!

THE BOTTOM LINE IS:

Stop using anti bacterial products now and spread the word! These are potentially dangerous products that should not be used willy-nilly -- just as anti-biotics have been, but we now know should not be, overused and abused!!!

Good point! I almost forgot to list the typical MRSA symptoms, and maybe that is why you found your way to this web page, after all. In simple terms they amount to a variety of persistent or chronic infections, of the skin in particular.

Those suffering from MRSA symptoms tend to develop: