Super Clean Professional Equipment Cleaning

Hygiene of Medical Staff Affects MRSA Rate

An article published on MSN.com highlights a recent focus on the hygiene practices of the medical care community and its effect on infection rates in hospitals, where MRSA has long been a problem. As has been found in other studies, author Trevor Thieme of Best Life notes that dangerous bacteria can be carried by medical staff and passed on to the patient with sometimes adverse results. For example, when scientists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, analyzed the hands of 66 nurses, they found that those with wedding rings had 10 times more bacteria than those without. "Bacterial infections are the leading cause of death in American hospitals; about 98,000 people die from them each year," says Dr. Soden. "That means you can contract a secondary infection at the hospital."

Happy Ending For Super Clean Customer!

In the summer of 2007, Super Clean got a call from Las Vegas requesting that it disinfect Eddie Del Grosso's hockey equipment. Del Grosso, a young, healthy college hockey player suffered during his offseason from a close call with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA - a nasty staph infection that is plaguing athletes from a variety of sports. The University of Nebraska at Omaha defenseman had to undergo surgery to open up and clean out wounds on his hip and both of his hands, an ordeal that prevented Del Grosso from doing any kind of physical activity for about six weeks. Del Grosso had to make up all the time lost from his conditioning, but is now strong, healthy and succeeding as an important member of his hockey team. The Las Vegas native has been named CCHA defenseman of the week twice in the past month, and he has eight points in his last six games. And as part of a lesson learned, Del Grosso cleans his gear regularly as part of an overall program to stay healthy. To read more, click here.

MRSA Causes Biotech Companies to Scramble to Create New Antibiotics

An article posted on CNN.Money.com illustrates the effect that dangerous staph infections and superbugs are having not only on our health, but also our economy. In response to the MRSA epidemic that is sweeping the nation, smaller biotechnology companies are taking the lead away from big pharmaceutical corporations in developing antibiotics that can combat this new generation of deadly "superbugs." Because bacteria have grown resistant to antibiotics, it is necessary to create new drugs that will be able to stop the epidemic. "Drug resistance is on the rise and old drugs are working less well," said Jason Kantor, analyst for RBC Capital Markets. "MRSA is the big driver currently." Lately, MRSA has gained attention by appearing in more public places, such as schools, and taking the lives of young children. Some of the most high-profile deaths occurred last year, when a 17-year-old high school student in Virginia and a 12-year-old student in New York both died from the drug-resistant strain. This year, two members of a high school wrestling team in Nebraska became infected with MRSA, increasing concerns about in-school infections and contact sports. While the most common superbug is MRSA, there are more types of superbugs that are evolving as threats to public health. To read more, click here.

Staph Infection Sidelines NBA Player

Denver Nuggets power forward, Kenyon Martin, was unable to play a number of games last month due to a staph infection on his buttocks. The team's trainer stated that Martin was taking a course of antibiotics and hoped that the infection would heal soon in order to allow him to return to the starting lineup. Staph infections do not just affect football and hockey players - they can infect all types of healthy individuals - playing many different types of sports or not even playing sports. Infection is a threat to the community as a whole and the public must educate itself about staph and MRSA in order to take necessary precautions. To read more about Kenyon Martin, click here.