MRSA Panic - How and WHY NOT to

We’ve been deluged lately with news stories on MRSA or methicillin resistant staph infection. It seems that what we in the alternative healing community have been saying all these years about the overuse and abuse of antibiotics has come true. Sadly, we’re actually BREEDING bacterial superbugs in the very place where most people think is the safest healing environment possible, the hospital.

MRSA is expected to kill more Americans every year than AIDS. And while it’s being reported that the infection can be acquired through sports activities and other physical contact, the vast majority of cases are found in hospitals and nursing homes. The ONE thing that hospitals and nursing homes have in common is that almost everyone there is already sick and their immune systems weakened. In other words they’re not able to resist even minor infections, much less one that actually feeds on the strongest antibiotics available.

So, how does one protect themselves from the superbug MRSA? First and foremost, the best thing you can do is practice good hygiene. Simply washing your hands goes a long way. One news report I heard over the weekend gave this advice to HOSPITAL staff. Good grief! If you’re kid is plays a contact sport, make sure they shower well after practice and games. Don’t share towels, toothbrushes or razors. Sounds obvious. But one reported outbreak was among a football team that shared a razor to shave their legs before wrapping their ankles.

Another way to avoid MRSA (also called a nosocomial, or hospital-acquired, infection) is to avoid the hospital, if at all possible. I know it’s not always possible. But when hospitals are warned to have their staff wash their hands and take off their white coats, you KNOW something is REALLY wrong. If you can’t avoid the hospital, at least make sure you remind your caretakers to practice good hygiene.

Probably the best thing you can do to protect yourself is to build your immune system as much as possible. How? Do those things that make you as healthy as possible: exercise, eat right, drink lots of water, get plenty restful sleep, reduce stress by developing and maintaining a positive mental attitude and keep stress on your nerve system to a minimum. While you can take care of the first four, only a chiropractor is trained to locate and reduce sources of stress created by spinal misalignment.

MRSA was created by overuse and abuse of antibiotics. Less reliance on drugs and greater reliance on your body’s ability to fight infection and disease is a great first step in protecting you from hospital-acquired infections.