Theoretically a totally preventable disease: MRSA infections

A high school student in Bedford, Virginia who was hospitalized for more than a week with an antibiotic-resistant staph infection, has died. After a student protest, officials shut down 21 schools for cleaning to keep the illness from spreading. Ashton Bonds, 17, a senior at Staunton River High School, died Monday after being diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, his mother said.

"I want people to know how sick it made my son," Veronica Bonds said.

MRSA is a strain of staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics but can be treated with other drugs. The infection can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or sharing an item used by an infected person, particularly one with an open wound.

Ashton went to the hospital on Oct. 4 after complaining of pain in his side, his mother said. He was sent home after doctors ruled out appendicitis, but was readmitted three days later and taken to another hospital. Last week doctors diagnosed him with a MRSA infection that had quickly spread to his kidneys, liver, lungs and the muscles around his heart. Early Thursday morning, Ashton had to be sedated and put on a ventilator. He was about to undergo surgery to drain the infection from his lungs when doctors detected a blood clot near his heart. But the clot was inoperable.

Ashton is one of 19,000 people who die each year from infections by drug-resistant bacteria. The vast majority – about 85% - of invasive MRSA infections are associated with healthcare treatment, e.g., in a hospital or nursing home, according to a study published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Some hospital systems, e.g., Evanston Northwestern Healthcare, have dramatically reduced their rate of MRSA infections. Dr. Lance Peterson, an epidemiologist at ENH, said, "MRSA is theoretically a totally preventable disease."

Advice to hospitalized patients: Put up a sign near your bed asking your doctors and nurses to wash their hands.

Read another drug-resistant infection story, or read more from today’s Associated Press stories, or the New York Times article by Kevin Sack.