Drug-resistant MRSA may be spread by bedbugs

by Aimee Keenan-Greene

Bedbugs may be hosting superbugs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases says, bed bugs carrying two types of drug-resistant bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE), have been found by Canadian researchers.
(Bedbugs as Vectors for Drug-Resistant Bacteria, by C.F. Lowe and M.G. Romney)

Risk factors for VRE colonization and infection include prolonged hospital stays, exposure to intensive care units, transplants, hematologic malignancies, and exposure to antibiotics, according to the CDC.

The National Institute of Health says MRSA is a strain of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) bacteria.  

S. aureus normally live on the skin and sometimes in the nasal passages of healthy people.

MRSA refers to S. aureus strains that do not respond to some antibiotics used to treat staph infections.

The bacteria can cause infection when they enter the body through a cut, sore, catheter, or breathing tube. The infection can be minor and local or more serious - involving the heart, lung, blood, or bone, especially  in people with weaker immune systems. 

This includes patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities and those receiving kidney dialysis.

The risk of encountering bedbugs increases if you spend time in places with high turnover, such as hotels, hospitals, dorms, military bases, movie theaters, libraries, or homeless shelters. 

Furniture stores that collect old bedding when they deliver new products have also had issues with bed bugs.

Bedbugs transport easily in luggage, purses, and coats. You can't tell whether an apartment building or hotel room has them based on cleanliness - the bugs can thrive anywhere there are cracks and crevices to hide in. 

All they need is a warm host and plenty of hiding places. Pristine homes and businesses can harbor bed bugs.