MRSA and Bed Bugs | Bed Bug Removal Guarantee
MRSA is a dangerous bacteria usually acquired from hospital visits. It often happens when a person has a cut or bite, such as those you might find from bed bugs. It’s not the bite itself that causes the problem, it’s scratching the bite and causing an infection that brings you to the hospital and eventually in contact with the MRSA Virus (although not really a virus, it’s a strain of bacteria Staphylococcus aureus).
When you catch MRSA and have not been in a hospital, such as a bed bug infested apartment complex, it’s called Community Associated MRSA or CA-MRSA for short.
Bed Bugs Can Carry Drug Resistant Bacteria
What makes this bacteria so dangerous is its resistance to oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin and other antibiotics. Drug-resistant bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant enterococci, were found in bedbugs.
Dr. Marc G. Romney of St. Paul’s Hospital/Providence Health Care in Vancouver, British Columbia, and colleagues collected five bedbugs and tested them for drug-resistant organisms and bacterial colonies were identified by using conventional and automated microbiological methods.
For two patients, VRE was isolated from one bed bug each, which were also resistant to the antibiotics ampicillin, teicoplanin and aminoglycosides. For one patient, MRSA was isolated from three bed bugs.
Romney says Vancouver has experienced an alarming increase in bed bugs, particularly in downtown Eastside, where 31 percent of residents have reported bed bug infestation.
Although bed bugs have not been shown to spread disease, the researchers say bed bugs at least carry bacteria known to cause these sometimes hard-to-treat infections. However, the researchers say they don’t know if the bacteria originated with the bed bugs or if the bed bugs were infected from the already infected people.
During the past 10 years in North America and western Europe, bed bugs have re-emerged, and while the resurgence is unclear, large bed bug infestations have been attributed to increased worldwide travel, altered insecticide management and increased resistance to pesticides, the researchers say.
MRSA looks like a normal staph bacteria in the early stages and normally does not cause disease unless it enters an opening in the skin. However, some people are at higher risk for carrying MRSA or becoming infected with this type of staph.
MRSA more often occurs in people in hospitals and healthcare facilities. It can also occur outside the hospital in people who receive multiple antibiotics, as well as in people who have close contact with a person carrying the germ or by touching objects contaminated with MRSA (e.g., clothes, towels, bedding, athletic equipment, benches in saunas or hot tubs, bandages).
Staph bacteria (including MRSA) are most often spread by close contact with infected people or the things they touch. It is not spread through the air.
The findings are scheduled to be published in the June issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Since MRSA enters the bloodstream through open wounds or cuts, it’s technically possible that if an infected bed bug were to find its way onto an infested person — with the telltale itchy welts and broken skin from scratching — it could pass on the bacteria. If left untreated, MRSA can cause pneumonia or infections of the skin, blood and joints. The bacteria, once confined to hospitals, has been increasingly found in community settings like locker rooms and gyms, and kills 19,000 Americans each year. Recently, the FDA approved a quick diagnostic test that promises to help infected patients receive treatment more quickly.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National MRSA Education Initiative: Preventing MRSA Skin Infection. http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/mrsa_initiative/skin_infection/mrsa_faqs.html. Updated August 9, 2010. Accessed May 6, 2011.
Bed Bugs Pest Control Treatments MN
Bed bugs can quickly become a serious pest problem. Chances are if you have bed bugs, you brought them into your home while traveling. These pests do not travel on humans or animals, but on luggage, clothing, pillows, and other items you bring when you leave home. Once you notice a bed bug problem you should call a Bed Bug Exterminator. To begin with, they will thoroughly inspect the area, knowing where the problem is if there is one. After that they will effectively treat the area ensuring to exterminate all the pests so they will not return!
