[beachnet] MULTIDRUG-RESISTANT STAPH FOUND ON PUGET SOUND BEACHES

Multidrug-Resistant Staph Found on Puget Sound Beaches
<http://www.sundancechannel.com/sunfiltered/2009/09/multidrug-resistant-
staph-found-on-puget-sound-beaches/>  
September 13th, 2009 by Sundance Channel
<http://www.sundancechannel.com/>  

SAN FRANCISCO, California, September 13, 2009 (ENS) - Samples of sand
and water from five beaches around the Puget Sound have tested positive
for a multidrug resistant form of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus.
This potentially fatal strain of staph is resistant to the
broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. 

Dr. Marilyn Roberts, a professor of environmental and health science at
the University of Washington in Seattle, Firday reported the first
isolation of Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, from
marine and beach sand samples taken from public beaches in Washington
state. 



Dr. Marilyn Roberts (Photo courtesy ICAAC) 

Speaking at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and
Chemotherapy in San Francisco, Dr. Roberts did not identify the
individual beaches where the dangerous bacteria was found. 

She said the MRSA bacteria was found in samples at four urban beaches
and one rural beach about 10 miles apart around the Puget Sound. 

"We found the same strain in three different beaches," said Roberts.
"It's possible there was a common source. It could have been a hospital,
could have been a person or people, but we don't really know where it
came from or how three beaches got same strain," she told colleagues at
the conference. 

Most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings,
such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. More recently, another type
of MRSA has occurred among otherwise healthy people in the wider
community. This community-associated MRSA is responsible for serious
skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia. 

Dr. Roberts said, "In most cases people who acquire it do not have an
association with hospitals, do not work there, do not visit there, so
the assumption is you've got MRSA out in the environment." 



One of the many beaches that ring the Puget Sound (Photo by Flying
Kayaks <http://www.flickr.com/photos/flyingkayaks/> ) 

She said sewage outflows were the most likely source of the MRSA found
on the sampled beaches, 

"There are sewage outflows in the urban settings, but there was not an
outflow in the rural setting," she said. "In one of the areas there was
a dog park above on a hill, and certainly if there was shedding going on
and then rain can wash things down. There is some literature to suggest
you get more isolates after rain, but we collected samples in the summer
when there was little rain." 

Dr. Roberts said more research is needed to pinpoint the source or
sources of the MRSA. 

"Where all these organisms are coming from is not clear," said Roberts.
"We don't know if the organisms were transient or if we could go back
again and again and find the identical strain." 

She explained that the sampling was a one time event that she called "a
grab and go," saying the researchers probably did not find all the MRSA
that was really there. 

"The fact that we found these organisms suggests that the level was much
higher that one would have thought," she said. 

"We don't really know the risk for people going to the beach," said Dr.
Roberts. She cited a survey of 27,000 people published this year in the
"Journal of Epidemiology" that found that people who dug in the sand or
were completely covered by sand were much more likely to come down with
a diarrheal disaease than those who did not engage in these activities
and suggested that being covered with sand might also be a risk factor
for MRSA. 

"If you were just laying on the sand to get suntanned and not digging in
it - that is not a risk factor," she said. "If you were actively digging
it or buried in it brought a lot of sand all over you that is a risk
factor." 

Because the Puget Sound water is cold, between 50 and 58 degrees, and
MRSA is salt-resistant, the organism can survive, Roberts said, and she
added that it can also survive hospital cleaning and the laundering of
hospital linens. 

"All disinfectants do not give you a 100 percent kill," she said. "Hot
water does a better job than cold water, but virtually nothing that
anyone has will give 100 percent rate kill unless you autoclave," she
said of the process used to sterilize surgical instruments by heating
them under pressure. 

"The message is," she said, "that if you've got a scrape or a cut, if
you want to to play in the sand, great, but make sure you clean it very
well and watch it and if you get something that looks like an infection
and it doesn't go away in a couple of days, you go and get seen. That's
the best protection. I'm not telling people not to go to the beach." 

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