Word: staphs
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...bacteria known as Staphyiococcus aureus are dreaded by doctors as a cause of dangerous and persistent infections in many parts of the body. Ironically, the kinds of "staph" commonly found in hospitals are the worst of all, because they have developed resistance to most of the antibiotics around them. They are spread, usually from wounds or boils, not only on patients' linen, but also on nurses' hands and surgeons' breath, and even through air ducts. Newborn babies, with practically no resistance, are especially susceptible. Some hospital nurseries have been decimated by staph epidemics...
...Staph & Clots. The surgeon who pioneered the new trend is Amsterdam's Dr. Ite Boerema (TIME, Feb. 15, 1963), on hand last week to receive an honorary membership in the American College of Surgeons at its annual congress in Chicago. Dr. Boerema had begun by using high-pressure oxygen to combat gas gangrene. Reasoning that the microbes that cause gangrene are of types that thrive without oxygen, he succeeded in killing the microbes by flooding them with oxygen. Since then hyperbaric conditions in the operating room have proved a godsend when treating infants with congenital heart defects. Working...
Other researchers believe high-pressure oxygen may be useful in destroying lingering tetanus bacilli, and doctors at Maumee Vallery Hospital, Toledo, report that in some cases it is effective against oxygen-breathing microbes, including Staphylococcus aureus-"hospital staph." There is even evidence that high-pressure oxygen may help to dispel massive blood clots in the lungs, help to reverse the effects of severe heart attacks, and enhance the effectiveness of certain drugs in the treatment of certain skin cancers (melanomas...
...humidity, Dr. Bernard's team reports in Surgery, that contributes most to the safety of the air. Fortunately, what is comfortable for people seems to be deadly for many bacteria, notably staph. The germs thrive in dry air (relative humidity less than 35%), and in moist air (65% or over). They languish and die in the middle zone. So the St. Louis researchers recommend keeping the humidity control on operating-room air conditioners at the 50% evel-a setting that is best for operat-ng personnel, worst for germs, and moist enough to minimize the ever-present danger...
...regular dosage of cortisone-type hormones. This treatment carried the risk of reducing her resistance to infections. Not surprisingly, Mrs. Roosevelt began to run a fever. Nobody knew what was causing it. The common everyday infections, from common cold and flu to strep and staph, were soon ruled out by bedside observation and lab tests...