Dangerous staph germs found at West Coast beach

12:03 AM // 0 comments // ngsk // Category: News , Science //

West coast of USA is one of the beauties in the world with lot of beautiful beaches throughout the line. Where as the beaches are the most relax able places for the people who live in west coast, who spend their most of their weekends on the beaches.

But resent findings by the scientists about the presence of dangerous staph bacteria in sand and water for the first time at five public beaches along the coast of Washington causing the worries in the minds of the people along this coast as the same team which reported this findings now also reported about the findings of enterococci a type of bacteria at five west coast beaches last year.
The germ which was found is MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) which causes nasty skin infections as well as pneumonia and other life-threatening problems.

The strains resembled the highly resistant ones usually seen in hospitals, rather than the milder strains acquired in community settings, Roberts said.

This bug once rarely found outside the hospitals and it is hard to treat. Outside hospitals it is now a day seen in schools, locker rooms and gyms. This mainly spreads through human contacts. Until now there is a little information above the environmental places for the growth of this germ.

Also read: Study exposes how bacteria resist antibiotics.

Finding it at the beach suggests one place that people may be picking it up, said Marilyn Roberts, a microbiologist at the University of Washington in Seattle.

"We don't know the risk" for any individual going to a beach, she said. "But the fact that we found these organisms suggests that the level is much higher than we had thought."

At American Society for Microbiologyconference in California on Saturday she presented her results. And earlier this year, University of Miami researchers reported finding staph bacteria in four out of 10 ocean water samples collected by hundreds of bathers at a South Florida beach.
In the new study, researchers tested 10 beaches in Washington along the West Coast and in Puget Sound from February to September 2008. Staph bacteria were found at nine of them, including five with MRSA.

"It's probably prudent to shower when you come out" to lower the risk of bacteria staying on the skin, said Dr. Lance Peterson, a microbiologist at NorthShore University Health System in Evanston, Ill.
No staph was found in samples from two beaches in southern California.
People should not avoid beaches or be afraid to enjoy them, scientists say.
Adding to her word Roberts said, "Make sure you get all the sand off," and cover any open cuts or scrapes before playing in the sand. she also mentioned, Digging in the sand or being buried in it seems to raise the risk of infection.