Bedbugs With Drug-Resistant MRSA 'Superbug' Germ Found

ATLANTA -- Hate insects? Afraid of germs? Researchers are reporting an alarming combination: bedbugs carrying a staph "superbug." Canadian scientists detected drug-resistant staph bacteria in bedbugs from three hospital patients from a downtrodden Vancouver neighborhood.

Bedbugs have not been known to spread disease, and there's no clear evidence that the five bedbugs found on the patients or their belongings had spread the MRSA germ they were carrying or a second less dangerous drug-resistant bacteria.

However, bedbugs can cause itching that can lead to excessive scratching. That can cause breaks in the skin that make people more susceptible to these germs, noted Dr. Marc Romney, one of the study's authors.

The study is small and very preliminary. "But it's an intriguing finding" that needs to be further researched, said Romney, medical microbiologist at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver.

The hospital is the closest one to the poor Downtown Eastside neighborhood near the city's waterfront. Romney said he and his colleagues did the research after seeing a simultaneous boom in bedbugs and MRSA cases from the neighborhood.

Five bedbugs were crushed and analyzed. MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, was found on three bugs. MRSA is resistant to several types of common antibiotics and can become deadly if it gets through the skin and into the bloodstream.

Two bugs had VRE, or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium, a less dangerous form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Both germs are often seen in hospitals, and experts have been far more worried about nurses and other health care workers spreading the bacteria than insects.

It's not clear if the bacteria originated with the bedbugs or if the bugs picked it up from already infected people, Romney added.

The study was released Wednesday by Emerging Infectious Diseases, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Comments

[sbump60]

11:14 AM on 05/15/2011

NO...13,000,000 ILLEGAL Immigrants are responsible for MRSA infested Bedbugs. Q: Was this a National problem 15 yrs ago? A: Nope...

[Lisa Sarinelli]

02:22 PM on 05/19/2011

NO, illegal immigrants are not responsible for infested bedbugs. MRSA wasn't a problem 15 years ago because factory farming had not yet started pumping antibiotics by the boatload into their animals. It is cheaper as an illness deterrent rather than to actually improve the living quarters of the animals. Also, antibiotics increase growth, therefore, producing their "product" in half the time. If you do your research, you will find scientists have made a connection between these facilities and antibiotics. We all live with staph everyday, it can live on anyone. Do your research before making such an ill informed comment!

[jgarma]

04:59 PM on 05/12/2011

Do yourself a favor and resist grabbing antibiotics every time there's a health problem. This overuse of antibiotics is the cause of bugs/bacteria developing resistance via their quick evolution cycles.

There are natural alternatives that are effective for health issues like staph infections (MRSA/VRE), such as oregano and olive leaf extract, which you can read about in "Four Solutions to Antibiotic-resistant Super Bed Bugs": http://wp.me/pA04z-IZ

[rabidbadger]

05:48 PM on 05/12/2011

If you have MRSA or VRE or an obvious skin abscess that is exactly the time you should be taking antibiotics. If you mess around with plant extracts and it doesn't work the infection can spread and then you get nice and septic and have a hospital vacation to look forward to. MRSA and VRE are pretty dangerous and need to be treated with powerful antibiotics. There are drugs that work on these particular bacteria still.

However, the advice to avoid antibiotics for conditions they are not clearly indicated for is good. It has been shown that if you get a powerful antibiotic that kills off the competition you are more likely to be colonized with resistant bugs that can cause subsequent infections. The key is striking the middle ground; take antibiotics when you need them as directed and don't go asking for them when you don't.

[verticallychallenged]

06:59 AM on 05/13/2011

f & f for common sense.

[Cyrus Trance]

05:27 PM on 05/13/2011

If you have MSRA or VRE and you are not treated with the most current antimicrobial therapy you can become septic and die.

[placecalledhope]

11:32 AM on 05/12/2011

Truly a terrible combination. Nature does find a way to continue to survive. Bed bugs are notoriously hard to kill and now they may be combined with drug resistant bacteria? Sounds like a job for Chuck Norris!

[patardugno]

11:30 AM on 05/12/2011

I'm not in prison. But I had to do 2 days for a DUI about 17 yrs. ago, & I had to take a flea shower. But I was allow to recover from the accident for 6 months & when to court 1st, before I had to do those 2 days,...so maybe if I had to sober up in jail I would not have been give a flea bath there either.
But my point is that the Health Dept. should enforce that Flea Shampoo should have to be give to the guests, clinents, patients, inmates by Hospitals, Motels, Hotels, etc., any place where they must wash linens. And wash the linens in that kind of soap all the time too.

[Acert]

12:07 AM on 05/13/2011

When washing linens, chlorine bleach would probably be more all-encompassing and harder to resist (for the bugs).

[Terry Huggles]

11:02 AM on 05/12/2011

The bedbug outbreak started in the US, in the east coast, and then spread to Canada. Now in the UK we are having reports of bedbug infestation breaking out in London.

Because bed bug infestations are so expensive to get rid of, it is a problem often associated with poverty. The US is now ranking at Third World levels on so many economic and social measures we European should begin funigating flights from the US and US travellers and their luggage.

[regulargal]

12:43 PM on 05/12/2011

Funny, we in the US thought the bedbugs were arriving here via UK travelers.

[SteveDenver]

03:49 AM on 05/16/2011

Fumigating isn't even necessary. Freezing or hot temperatures for extended periods will kill the bugs and their eggs.

[Marla Stults]

07:35 PM on 05/16/2011

I guess I will book a room in a freezer for my next hotel stay.

[Sara Lira]

09:05 AM on 05/12/2011

I am scared of bugs as it is! And I need to be extra careful in what I read the law of attraction seems to work for me. Every time I read about some sickness I end up getting it one way or the other.

[Al Schrader]

05:37 AM on 05/12/2011

Bathing with anti-septic soap will reduce your chance of bacterial infection. Anti-septic soaps will kill most jerms on your skin & makes you less tasty to insects....Al-

[saskatoonie]

01:13 AM on 05/13/2011

Nonsense, bathing in anti-bacterial soap kills all the good bacteria on your body, there is such a thing as good bacteria, look it up!

[mjk929]

02:07 AM on 05/12/2011

was just wondering with the bedbugs carrying a superbug now and the everyday incidence of food and pet food recalls. everyone seems sick lately and docs dont know what it is half the times. can this be some sort of chemical warfare going on. even tap water smells funny many times.

[mdog002]

01:42 AM on 05/12/2011

hmmmmm....imagine that the possibility that FILTHY people are passing germs to biting insects....now where would these filthy people originate from....how about illegal aliens...close those borders NOW

[kalelreg]

01:25 AM on 05/12/2011

Don't ride in airplanes, those seats are disgusting and never get cleaned.

[rabidbadger]

05:50 PM on 05/12/2011

Or just don't take your pants off if you have open wounds on your behind.

[juliana1217]

12:59 AM on 05/12/2011

as if they're not already grosse enough !!!

[jdrabe]

12:43 AM on 05/12/2011

If you think bedbugs are a problem, read up on scabies. Highly contagious microscopic lice that create hives in the sub-cutaneous tissue and burrow tunnels through the skin that radiate outward until more hives can be established

[NightShayde]

03:59 AM on 05/12/2011

"Jdrabe", the scabies mites pose a minimal threat to human hosts, as humans are not the prime target. I've seen many, many pets with some sort of mange, be it Sarcoptic or Demodex, with no detriment to their caretakers. These mites thrive externally, living upon the skin, and don't often interfere with internal issues unless the infestation is massive. Of course, nobody wants mange on their pets, but I have yet to hear of a client dying because they contracted mites from an infected pet. "Wikipedia" is not your best source for solid information.

[jdrabe]

03:11 AM on 07/09/2011

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Try looking up Sarcoptes scabiei, the human variety that has plagued mankind since at least the days of the Pyramids
http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/tc/scabies-topic-overview

[Bill Barbour]

11:24 PM on 05/11/2011

Bedbugs are blood suckers so it seems to me that they would be carriers of any blood disease that the person or person's that they sucked blood from, and what's to stop any blood disease from spreading from one person to the other by the bug's bite? I don't think they are sterilizing their mouth, teeth..etc between bites...

[emmasdolly]

10:40 PM on 05/11/2011

People go to great lengths to get rid of bed bugs. I read an article about a young guy who threw away everything he owned to get rid of them, including family photos, electronics, clothes and furniture. The horrifying about them is that they don't die! My sister sleeps in hotels very infrequently now and inspects the sheets and blankets close up before getting into bed. They are ugly little buzzards from the pic with this article. Just thinking about them makes me itchy!

[mm31451]

10:38 PM on 05/11/2011

Thank you for that info....I probaly wont sleep again tonight!