MRSA rising in kids' ear, nose, throat infections

Researchers say they found an "alarming" increase in children's ear, nose and throat infections nationwide caused by dangerous drug-resistant staph germs. Other studies have shown rising numbers of skin infections in adults and children caused by these germs, nicknamed MRSA, but this is the first nationwide report on how common they are in deeper tissue infections in the head and neck. These include certain ear and sinus infections, and abcesses that can form in the tonsils and throat.

The study found a total of 21,009 pediatric head and neck infections caused by staph germs from 2001 through 2006. The percentage caused by hard-to-treat MRSA bacteria more than doubled during that time from almost 12 percent to 28 percent. The study appears in January's Archives of Otolaryngology.

MRSA infections were once limited mostly to hospitals, nursing homes and other health-care settings but other studies have shown they are increasingly picked up in the community, in otherwise healthy people. This can happen through direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with surfaces contaminated with germs from cuts and other open wounds. But staph germs also normally live or "colonize" on the skin and in other tissues including inside the nose and throat, without causing symptoms. Symptoms that it could be MRSA include ear infections that drain pus, or swollen neck lymph nodes caused by pus draining from a throat or nose abcess. Unlike cold and flu bugs, MRSA germs aren't airborne and don't spread through sneezing. MRSA does not respond to penicillin-based antibiotics and doctors are concerned that it is becoming resistant to others. The study authors said a worrisome 46 percent of MRSA infections studied were resistant to the antibiotic clindamycin, one of the non-penicillin drugs doctors often rely on to treat community-acquired MRSA.

Bonnie - we have been reporting on MRSA for a while now. We only have ourselves to blame for the rise in these cases. The chronic misuse of antibiotics have contributed greatly to the resistant MRSA strains. While there is very little data available, we recommend consulting your health professional about lauric acid (Monolaurin) and GSE (grapefruit seed extract) as natural preventatives. MayoClinic.com has good information about understanding MRSA.