A recent study has shown that children tend to get infected by new types of stubborn staph infections, which have a rather increased tolerance rate to traditionally used antibiotics, and the distribution of nose, ear, and throat infectious diseases with a particular tolerance to widely used pharmaceutical treatments has grown significantly in the course of past six years. Staphylococcus aureus caused infections, known as MRSA, that have a resistance to Methicillin made up 28.1 percent of head and neck staph infections in children in 2006, with the number of such infections being only 11.8 percent back in 2001, as a recent study performed by Emory University in Atlanta shows. Dr. Steven E. Sobol, director of pediatric otolaryngology at Emory University School of Medicine and additionally one of the research initiators, reported that a couple of years back the cases of MRSA infectious diseases with a resistance to medications were observed quite seldom and the increase of frequency with which such cases are reported is a certain cause for concerns. “During the last five or six years, there was a significant and alarming increase in the number of such infections caused by MRSA, which were previously by other organisms” Dr. Sobol stated. The research did not include the analysis of skin diseases being caused by organisms other than staph.
Though only a limited number of research facilities have provided data for this studies, the authors state that there’s a definite trend, which is quite alarming and has a global character in what concerns the development of MRSA infections in children. The study has mainly observed and a shift in so-called community-acquired cases of MRSA infections amongst generally healthy individuals who were not subjected to clinical treatment. The study has included 21,009 cases of head and neck staph infections that have occurred in children starting with January 2001 until December 2006. The data were taken from a microbiology database that comprises drug resistance test results obtained in over 300 national laboratories that are located in medical facilities all across the US. Children taking part in the study were of 6.7 years old age in average. The last six years were characterized by a significant increase in neck and head staph infections with a significant resistance rate to medications, as displayed in the research. In overall approximately 21.6 percent of the cases have highlighted methicillin resistance, the biggest part of cases being ear, nose, and pharynx infections. In 2001 the number of drug resistant childhood head infections was only 11.8 percent, while in 2002 the raise comprised 12.5 percent in 2002, 18.1 percent in 2003 and 27.2 percent in 2004. In 2005 there was a negative growth tendency with 25.5 percent, but in 2006 the portion of such diseases has grown again to 28.1 percent. The study also shows that about 60 percent of the head and neck infection cases have taken place with children who weren’t subjected to medical settings before and were visiting a doctor on occasion, meaning that these bacteria with a resistance to antibiotics like Zithromax or Methicillin were acquired in the community.