`Superbug' tied to 90,000 U.S. deaths

A U.S. government report stating that more than 90,000 Americans get infections each year caused by a drug-resistant "superbug" should serve as a wake-up call to Canada, says a leading disease specialist in Toronto.

Michelle Shephard staff reporter
From TheStar.com:

Mount Sinai Dr. Allison McGeer said rare diseases, such as West Nile Virus, tend to get the most publicity, but drug-resistant staph infections are one of the leading causes of death in Canada and not receiving the attention they should.

The first step, McGeer suggests, is to track the infection rate.

"A report like this in the United States should have us saying in Canada, we need to know what the numbers are, and when we get the numbers we'll see this is a big problem, and we need to do something about this," McGeer said in an interview last night.

"That's one of our reasons for not worrying about infections. If you don't have data,then people tend to think it doesn't happen."

The U.S. report, published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association, provides the first overall estimate of infections caused by the bug called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Infections can be deadly, or cause something as minor as a mild skin irritation. The U.S. study focused on the most invasive form of the infection.

Open wounds and tainted medical equipment are considered major ways to spread infections, which is why they often occur in hospitals.

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ALERT:Bird flu cases in Vietnam, Indonesia

1 Hour ago:
Hanoi (dpa) - After months of no reported cases of avian influenza, ducks in Vietnam's Mekong Delta have tested positive for the virus, a local official said Thursday.

Samples taken from ducks at a farm in southern Vietnam's Tra Vinh province have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 virus, said Le Tuyet Hong, head of the animal health department of Tra Vinh province.

"We have culled all the ducks in the farm and put a ban on transporting poultry out of the village," said Hong. "We have also disinfected the area and other farms in the entire village. We are trying to keep the outbreak from expanding to other villages as it is very easy for the virus to spread in cool weather."

The last reported outbreak of the bird flu in Vietnam was in August. The country was declared bird flu-free in September but veterinarians warned that the virus could reappear.

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