We all think of a fun day at the beach. Playing in the sand or taking a cool dip in the ocean. But now there may be reason not to jump to fast to the old phrase Surf’s Up.
Dangerous staph bacteria have been found in sand and water for the first time at five public beaches along the coast of Washington, and scientists think the state is not the only one with this problem.
The germ is MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — a hard-to-treat bug once rarely seen outside of hospitals but that increasingly is spreading in ordinary community settings such as schools, locker rooms and gyms.
Having caught a staph infection before returning to the Untied States from a vacation to Russia in 2003 I can assure you this nasty bug is nothing to mess around with. In my case I visited a spa several days before returning home and a small shaving cut allow MRSA to infect the right side of my face.It was very scary. If you have ever watched the movie Elephant Man that is what I looked like with the right side of my face swelled up like a basket ball to the point where I could not open my right eye. It took 2 weeks of daily 1000cc penicillin to get rid of it and my tending surgeon told me if I had waited just 4 more hours before visiting the urgent care that I would have been in surgery.
This is nasty nasty stuff and you should listen to the warnings. Hit the jump to read the article by Associated Press.
