SilverSoft for Skin

                        MRSA & CA-MRSA: Is There A Difference?

Methicillin-resisteant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA is a bacterium that causes infections in different parts of the human body. Because it's hard to treat, MRSA is sometimes called a "Super Bug." MRSA is showing up in healthy people who have not been living in a hospital.

This type, community-associated MRSA, is called CA-MRSA. "CA-MRSA skin infections are identified among certain populations that share close quarters or experiences more skin-to-skin contact. Examples are team athletes, military recruits, and prisoners. However, more and more CA-MRSA infections are being seen in the general community as well, especially in certain geographic regions.

"It is also infecting much younger people. In a study of Minnesotans published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the average age of people with MRSA in a hospital or health care facility was 68. But the average age of a person with CA-MRSA was only 23. (WebMD.Understanding MRSA; 02-02-2009).

A Utah-based Laboratory has developed and manufacturers a product, Silver Soft(Registered Trademark) For Skin, which has been shown to be effective against MRSA. Silver Soft is dispensed as a soft, white foam. The active ingredient in Silver Soft is chelated [key-la-ted] silver nitrate. The chelation technology was awarded a U.S. Patent in December 2007. Independent testing, completed in December 2008 was conducted at a local university microbiology laboratory. Testing confirmed the Chelated Silver Complex in Silver Soft achieved a five-log reduction [99.9994] of the MRSA bacteria in 3 minutes.

"Until recently, we rarely thought of it as a problem among health people in the community" said  Rachel Gorwitz of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC study found that between 10 and 20% of the cases involving the most common strain of MRSA were able to evade the antibiotics typically used to treat them."

"They're becoming more resistant and they're coming into institutional settings where they swap gene components with other bacteria and grow even more dangerous said Dr. Keith Klugman, an infectious disease expert at Emory University. Its [potentially] really a major epidemic. (The Associated Press: "Study: Staph germa harder to treat; Marilynn Marchione; October 28, 2008).

Symptoms of MRSA depend on where your're infected and staph can usually be treated with antibiotics. However, over time, some strains of staph - like MRSA have become resistant to the antibiotics that once destroyed it. First discovered in 1961, MRSA is now resistant to Methicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, oxacillin, and many other anticiotics. And, because MRSA is constantly adapting, scientists have a hard time keeping up." (Marchione: Associated Press Article).