What happens if MRSA gets confused with MPSA?

....oh, the implications. So....I do indeed make bad jokes. Whatever.

Usually, conversations with friends and family that turn to pharmacy will either be them a) showing me a rash b) complaining about how much their co-pay is and not realizing how much is actually being paid for (that's another blog...) or c) questions about what I want to do when I graduate, to which I usually espouse the multitude of opportunities available in pharmacy. Now, however, the new questions have revolved around MRSA-methicilling resistant staph aureus.

The original questions began after the CNN article ran a couple of weeks ago, in response to the JAMA article and also the death of a student who contracted the infection at school (and other deaths that are now coming to light.) Though MRSA has been an issue and of concern in hospitals for years, it is great to see this get people's attention and have more people realize the impact of antibiotic resistance and its implications. Still, it's pretty scary to think when the "Vancomycin resistant Staph Aureous" super bug comes along, or linezolid resistant, etc. There is at least one drug-Televancin that recently received an "approvable letter" from the FDA that is in the pipeline and not too far from approval-I'm not sure of others.

In addition, there is always the prevention route to slowing down the spread of MRSA. While some hospitals will likely do a deep clean to rid the hospital of the bug-this BBC article suggests that merely keeping up on general cleaning, even with just soap and water, cleans up the bug. Of course, proper and frequent hand washing is the biggest step in preventing the spread of this "superbug."

Also, last weekend over MRM, there was a very interesting proposed resolution that requested cleaning our white coats. I was at first like much of the rest of the contingent at the meeting, and thought the resolution was a bit hammy-but the explanation of the reasoning was not far at all from being off the mark. In Britain, there is a possibility that there may be a ban on white coats, and many hospitals, at the suggestion of the British Medical Association, have already banned ties across the pond. I think this was a great idea and a very proactive approach to helping resolve the MRSA problem, and a huge opportunity for student pharmacists in the US to take an opportunity to help public health and stop the spread of infectious disease (and don't get me started on the internet resolution....)