South Texas sees more severe "super bug" cases hospitalizing children

A lesser known antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing danger to otherwise healthy children across the USA. Doctors are seeing the potentially deadly staph infection known as community -acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus emerging in epidemic proportions. South Texas was one of the first regions of the country to experience CA-MRSA and has since become a hot bed for the infection.

"We've seen that MRSA working in the community is much more virulent," says Jaime Fergie, director of pediatric infectious diseases at Driscoll Children's Hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. In the past, MRSA was well known as an infection acquired in health care facilities or nursing homes. Today, the contagious "superbug" is stronger and it is in the community, it was noted.

Some severely infected children are requiring multiple surgeries including orthopedic, cardiothoracic and drainage procedures to get rid of the infection. Fortunately, most infections are easy to treat with a simple incision and drainage, and use of stronger antibiotics. The New England Journal of Medicine states MRSA is the most common identifiable cause of skin and soft-tissue infections in emergency rooms nationwide.