Sexually-active gay men vulnerable to new, highly infectious bacteria
Sexually active gay men are many times more likely than others to acquire a new, highly antibiotic-resistant strain of the so-called MRSA bacteria widely know as the “superbug,” a UCSF-led study shows.
The bacteria appear to be transmitted most easily through intimate sexual contact, but can spread through casual skin-to-skin contact or contact with contaminated surfaces. The scientists are concerned that it could soon gain ground in the general population.
The new strain of bacteria is closely related to the MRSA bacteria that have spread beyond hospital borders in recent years and caused outbreaks of severe skin and other infections. But the newly discovered microbe is resistant to many more front-line antibiotics. Both strains are technically known as MRSA USA300.
Like its less antibiotic-resistant sibling, the new multi-drug resistant microbe spreads easily through skin-to-skin contact, invading skin and tissue beneath the skin. Both strains cause abscesses and ulcerations that can progress rapidly to life-threatening infections.
“These multi-drug resistant infections often affect gay men at body sites in which skin-to-skin contact occurs during sexual activities,” says Binh Diep, PhD, UCSF postdoctoral scientist at San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center and lead author of a report on the finding. – Full Story –
Related story:
Sexually active gay men no longer allowed to donate organs
Last Updated: Monday, January 7, 2008 | 10:08 PM ET
CBC News
A number of organ donation groups said Monday that they are unaware of new Health Canada regulations that mean sexually active gay men, injection drug users and other groups considered high risk will no longer be accepted as organ donors.
The new rules, which came into effect in December, are similar to the regulations for determining who can donate blood. Those rules exclude groups that are at high risk of transmitting infectious diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C and B.
– Full Story –
Is this a political issue? To some it is. Others just see it like it is, sound medical sense. Right now medical science cannot screen for every possible pathogen that can contaminate fluids and tissue.
The MRSA bug has been in the News a lot. When we start up the website again we will certainly have follow up information on MRSA.
