MRSA, a pox on the world?

So, last week we had our first confirmed case since the MRSA scare broke. It was going to happen sooner or later, especially since all last week we heard about cases drawing closer and closer to us. When I spoke with the Health Department on Monday, they discussed the fact that many people seemed to have the wrong impression. People were in a panic thinking they needed to keep their kids home from school, that if someone got it they would certainly die, or even worse. One of the reasons we have things like MRSA, a strain of staph that is resistant to some common antibiotics, is our society’s tendency to over-medicate. We have medicine for everything and we take medicine for everything. Too many shots and too many antibiotic hand washes have made the bugs that once may have caused some sniffles into monsters that keep you out of work for a week. Are we a nation given to panic at the first sign of fever? Have society’s attempts at raising us up from the dirt and debris of a couple of centuries ago weakened our immune systems while strengthening the germs? Is it beyond our control at this point? Or can we stop the rapid development of super-bugs, super-flu, and super-staph? For the record, MRSA is treatable with antibiotics. You should go to the doctor if you suspect you have a skin infection. If left untreated, it can become life-threatening. However, despite the panic, it is easily treatable with drugs that are readily available.

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