Alarm at Highly Infectious Form of Superbug MRSA Variant Destroys Lungs

By HELEN PUTTICK HEALTH CORRESPONDENT

FRIGHTENING new forms of the MRSA superbug are emerging which are highly infectious and can kill patients by destroying lung tissue, doctors warned yesterday.

The evolving bacteria spread from person to person in the community – unlike existing strains which largely infect patients in hospitals.

The bacteria produce a toxin, Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), that kills white blood cells, an essential part of the body’s immune system defences.

Initial symptoms appear relatively harmless so infection by one of the new strains can be overlooked until it is too late, according to experts.

The warnings were spelled out at the Federation of Infection Societies Conference taking place in Cardiff.

Health Protection Scotland, which monitors superbugs, confirmed the strains are circulating north of the border.

Dr Marina Morgan, who spoke at the conference, said: “The new community-associated MRSA strains appear to be more virulent and more easily spread between people.

“These community-associated versions have been found in people with few, if any, reasons to have MRSA. Typically they haven’t recently been in hospital, and are not looking after or living with people with MRSA.”

MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a common bug that has mutated to become immune to many antibiotics. If it gets into the bloodstream, it can kill.

The new strains appear to attach themselves to damaged skin and airways more easily than hospital MRSA, and they multiply faster.

Dr Morgan, from the Royal Devon & Exeter Foundation NHS Trust, said: “Although the resistant strain is not yet widespread in the UK, we have seen increasing numbers of PVL-toxin producing Staphylococcus aureus infections.

“This excessive production of white cells to compensate for those killed by the PVL toxin leads to recurrent severe boils and abscesses. The MRSA is easily spread by close contact, such as in families, nurseries and athletic teams.”

A minority of patients carrying the PVL-producing bugs could suffer severe infections such as septicaemia or a lethal form of pneumonia which destroys lung tissue, she said.

“With this type of necrotising PVL pneumonia, even with the strongest antibiotics, more than 60per cent of otherwise healthy young and fit people will die, ” Dr Morgan added.

“These infections are easily missed clinically. Then, with severe invasive infections like pneumonia, early diagnosis is vital as treatment with the correct antibiotics and massive doses of immunoglobulin can save children’s lives.”

She warned that if community strains take hold and spread in the UK as they have in the US, many more patients with unsuspected MRSA infections will be admitted to hospitals.

“When doctors finally realise the infection is MRSA, by the time patients get the correct treatment, it may be too late, ” she said.

An audit of patients who died under the care of Scottish surgeons last year found a 5per cent increase in the number of patients who lost their life in part due to a hospital bug in 2006 – up to 422 from 401.

Of these cases 137 of the patients were suffering MRSA and 45 Clostridium difficile which causes diarrhoea.

The findings, published yesterday, followed an announcement by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon of GBP54m to fight infections on wards.

Originally published by Newsquest Media Group.

(c) 2007 Herald, The; Glasgow (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.