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Study: Superbugs Emerge Among Urban Poor


May 28, 4:48 PM (ET)

By CARLA K. JOHNSON

CHICAGO (AP) - Drug-resistant staph infections have spread to the urban poor, rising almost seven-fold in recent years in some Chicago neighborhoods, a new study finds.

Researchers said the crowded living conditions of public housing and jails may speed up the person-to-person spread of infection.

The superbugs, first seen mainly in hospitals and nursing homes, have turned up recently among athletes, prisoners and people who get illegal tattoos.

Called methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, these staph germs can cause skin infections that in rare cases have led to pneumonia, bloodstream infections and a painful, flesh-destroying condition. MRSA is hard to treat because the bacteria have developed resistance to the penicillin drug family.

From 2000 to 2005, the infection rate seen in patients seeking care at Chicago's main public hospital and its affiliated clinics climbed from 24 cases per 100,000 to 164 cases per 100,000, the study found.

Dr. Bala Hota of Chicago's Stroger Hospital, a lead author of the study, said the increase is similar to that seen in other cities.