New Bacteria
Strain Spreading Rapidly Among Gay Men

A new, drug-resistant strain of the "flesh-eating" MRSA bacteria is spreading quickly among gay men in Boston and San Francisco and soon could pose a wider threat, according to an article in The New York Times.

In a study published Monday by the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, researchers wrote that the MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria is spread easily through anal intercourse as well as by skin-to-skin contact and touching contaminated surfaces. Unless laboratories can identify the strain and doctors prescribe appropriate antibiotics, the infection, researchers wrote, "has the potential for rapid nationwide dissemination" among gay men.

Another part of the study found that gay men in San Francisco were about 13 times more likely than other people to contract the bacteria. Symptoms can include abscesses and infection in the genital and buttocks area, skin ulcers, pneumonia, heart damage, and necrotizing fasciitis -- the skin infection that gives the bacteria its popular name.

All MRSA bacteria are resistant to methicillin, but the new strain is also resistant to antibiotics used to treat earlier forms: clindamycin, tetracycline, and mupirocin.

Almost 19,000 people died nationwide from MRSA infection in 2005, according to the CDC. (The Advocate)