Neill McNeill's Blog

Wow, do we ever need a little mercy from MRSA! It's been our major story this week. With an 18-year-old dying from a MRSA infection in Virginia to the bacterium infecting students and a teacher locally, this story has dominated our newscasts. We've covered it aggressively, and we'll continue to do so.

The last thing someone asked Photojournalist Chris Weaver and me as we walked out of a southeast Winston-Salem restaurant yesterday was, "Are you guys over at East Forsyth (High School) doing something on MRSA?" We weren't.  (We had actually just wrapped up a shoot for another story.) But our crews had certainly been on campus the day before. It just goes to show you how concerned people are.

As we've reported, MRSA's been around a while. Scientists in Great Britain discovered it in 1961! I first heard of it in the mid-1990s when--during my wife's medical residency---one of her patients became infected.

The second time I heard of it was in January, 1997. I was producing a story we titled  "24 Hours with the EMS" that would air in February of that year. Photojournalist Alan Horton and I actually spent 24 hours with Guilford County Paramedics. I specifically remember the fear that washed over the faces of the two paramedics we were shadowing when they learned--after the fact---  the elderly woman they had just transported from a nursing home to the hospital had a MRSA infection.

Fortunately, after discussing it with their captain and the Guilford EMS medical director it was determined that since the paramedics wore gloves during the transport and the fact they moved the patient from her bed to the stretcher using the bed sheets, they were probably okay. I don't, however, believe that determination eliminated all their anxiety.

I read this morning on the Mayo Clinic website that while there are still a few antibiotics left that can successfully fight MRSA, it's possible that in a matter of time this bacterium can become resistant to those drugs as well. That's why it's really important we get the upper hand on this NOW!

If you haven't already, type "MRSA" into the search bar at the top of this website's home page, do a site search and read the wonderful material the myfox team has assembled on this topic.

Watch for symptoms --especially in young children and those with weakened immune systems. (I read this morning that oftentimes many people mistake MRSA infections for spider bites!) And please follow the recommended sanitary guidelines (as mentioned in the web material and in the stories we've produced) to keep this superbug from spreading.

That way, let's hope and pray, we'll get some mercy from MRSA.