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CDC launches National MRSA Educational Initiative
The campaign highlights specific actions for parents to protect themselves and their families against MRSA.
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It is that time of year again when children are heading back to school, and CDC officials are recommending that parents be aware that homework may not be the only thing children are bringing home with them.
According to the CDC, Americans visit the doctor more than 12 million times per year for skin-related infections; in some communities, more than half are caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. To address this issue, the CDC has launched the National MRSA Educational Initiative.
“We hope to increase public awareness and understanding of MRSA and to further encourage appropriate responses and prevention measures,” Rachel Gorwitz, MD, MPH, pediatrician and medical epidemiologist of the CDC’s Division of Health Care Quality Promotion, told Infectious Diseases in Children. “We want parents to be able to recognize the signs and symptoms of these skin infections, to know when to contact their doctor and to understand that recognizing the signs and receiving treatment for MRSA skin infections in the early stages reduces the chances of the infection becoming severe or spreading to others.”
The goal of the national campaign is to highlight specific measures to prevent and decrease the spread of MRSA with the use of materials including posters, fact sheets, websites, radio and print public service announcements as well as mainstream media interviews.
“Pediatricians and other clinicians need to know that we have a guidance document and treatment algorithm for the management of MRSA skin infections available on our website, along with educational materials and fact sheets that they can share with their patients,” Gorwitz said. “Incision and drainage is the most important treatment for skin abscesses, and we want to encourage clinicians to obtain cultures from skin infections and to emphasize that education on wound care and wound containment to prevent the further spread of these infections is an important aspect of case management for patients with skin infections.”
CDC officials further suggest for parents to teach their children about the signs and symptoms of MRSA, to encourage hand washing and to keep cuts clean and covered with a bandage.
Most Staphylococcus infections appear as a bump or infected area of the skin that may have the following symptoms:
- Red, swollen or warm to the touch.
- Painful.
- Full of pus or other drainage.
- Accompanied by fever.
For more information or to obtain educational materials on MRSA, visit www.cdc.gov/MRSA.
This is good preventive medicine, and Dr. Gorwitz is absolutely correct in pointing out that a child’s best defense against cutaneous MRSA infection is informed parents who know what to look for. The presence of fever in addition to a red, painful skin lesion (especially if there is visible pus) should prompt an immediate visit to the pediatrician. Hand washing must be emphasized at home, just as in the hospital setting.
– Theodore C. Eickhoff, MD
Infectious Diseases in Children Editorial Board member