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July 23, 2009
Decolonization: disappointing news
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I know that many of you who are MRSA patients, especially with recurrent infections, are especially interested in the issue of decolonization, the grueling regimen of antibiotic nasal gel (containing mupirocin; usually sold as Bactroban) combined with body washes with chlorhexidine (Hibiclens) that is believed to eradicate MRSA carriage in the nose and on the [...]
June 29, 2009
Bad news from California
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Constant readers, some of you may be aware that one major nexus of MRSA infection gets very little attention, though I’ve tried to raise it here periodically. That’s MRSA in jails and prisons: Thanks to poor hygiene and extraordinary overcrowding, jails and prisons are hotbeds of the bug, and it is very common for people [...]
June 26, 2009
200th post! with thanks
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Constant readers: Funny how one loses track. According to the dashboard, this is my 200th post at SUPERBUG. I’m thrilled and humbled that we’ve been able to build this solid community in support of more attention to this very under-appreciated disease. You are the ones that make it happen, and I am very grateful.
March 26, 2009
Kindle owners: My first book now available, with a MRSA chapter
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It was news to me, until a friend of mine went and bought it: My first book, Beating Back the Devil: On the Front Lines with the Disease Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, has been put into a Kindle edition.
BBtD was the first and so far only book to go inside the CDC’s “outbreak [...]
March 6, 2009
A little public-health humor
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Constant readers – lots of new news happening, and blogposts coming. While I organize it, here’s a strip from one of my favorite webcomics, XKCD.com.
January 28, 2009
About handwashing: Here’s a resource for kids
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If you have young teens or younger, here’s a fun resource aimed at persuading them to wash their hands. (And if you don’t, it might tune you up to pre-teen culture):
Mitchel Musso, who plays the boy best friend on the Disney TV Show Hannah Montana, has filmed a public service announcement TV spot: “Clean Hands [...]
January 6, 2009
Hepatitis infection (lack of) control: Epic stupidity
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This isn’t about MRSA, but it’s such a jaw-dropping example of infection control failure that I thought it was worth passing along.
A team from the Centers for Disease Control report today in the Annals of Internal Medicine that, in the past 10 years, infection control has failed so significantly that 448 people have become infected [...]
December 27, 2008
Wash your hands or lose your job
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We’ve been talking the past few days about hospital infection control: Is it as simple as Sir Richard Branson suggests? Or as complex as Paul Levy’s commenters make it appear?
The National Health Service of Scotland comes down on the side of simple. It is poised to enact a new, no-tolerance policy: Wash your hands or [...]
September 22, 2008
A small self-promotion
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I have a long story in the new (October) SELF Magazine: Morgellons mystery.
It is not about MRSA; it’s about Morgellons, a syndrome which approximately 12,000 sufferers claim is a new, unrecognized disease, but which medical authorities say is a delusion. The story is a look at the experience of several people who identify themselves as [...]
A reminder: It’s World MRSA Day
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