Good grief! Have you read about the staph infection scare that is sweeping across the nation’s elementary and middle schools? Oh my God! How crazy is this thing?
The big headline a few days ago was how staph infections kill more people each year than the AIDS virus. And folks, if that’s not scary then I don’t know what is. Of course, there are those who believe that the AIDS “epidemic” is confined to the African continent (and the stats are mostly true to support that since AIDS deaths are going down in America), but it looks like we have a brand new (old?) epidemic to start being concerned about.
What strikes me about the staph infection scare is that most staph infections can be warded off by proper hygiene. As the CNN article linked above states:
Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the CDC, says these infections are not new. “It’s important to appreciate that many of these infections are the same infections moms have been dealing with for decades. They’re very preventable,” she says.
“If you see a skin infection that looks like the redness is getting bigger or if it’s associated with a lot of swelling around the wound or if the individual has a fever, those are reasons to definitely seek doctor’s attention. But most of the time these are things that can be treated with the same kind of common sense approach that is we’ve been using for years.”
So for those of you with children and those of you who are regularly in these school settings – be careful! Use your wits (we’re all smart folks in this country) and be sure to keep an eye out for any warning signs. Other news reports have emphasized how keeping one’s hands clean is a great way to prevent staph infections, too.
Thanks for the heads up. I have been reading about this and I think the AIDS people might get mad that what used to be a curable thing might actually be stealing their spotlight. Oh and in this case it is with a disease that is not behavioral unlike AIDS for the most part.
Good points.
It’s amazing that staph infections are on the rise as they are – completely preventable, too. I’m glad that those schools are getting fully cleaned out, though.