Microbiology Article Critique

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the article "Even as You Work Out, Bacteria May be Bulking Up at the Gym", which highlights the threat coming from methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) bacteria that can be found in the gyms many of us visit. The paper discusses how the article is very short, written in a simple English and has very little additional important information. The paper maintains that the article is also not completely scientifically accurate and many points have been oversimplified. As such, it has several weaknesses that can result in misinformation.

From the Paper:

"There are two distinct isolates of MRSA recognized today. One of them is community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA), which is the topic of the article, while the other one is health care-associated MRSA which is mentioned but not distinguished from Ca-MRSA. There are several reasons why this should be important. The outbreaks of CA-MRSA in the community could not be associated with health care exposure among the reported cases (Kowalski et al., 2005). CA-MRSA isolates are distinctly different form nonsocomial MRSA ones. The community strains often exhibit the resistance to -lactams only. On the other hand nonsocomial MRSA shows a strong multi-antibiotic resistance pattern (Kowalski et al, 2005)."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cohen, P.R. 2005. Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus: Skin Infection Presenting as an Axillary Abscess with Cellulitis in a College Athlete. SKINmed. 4: 115-118.
• Kowalski, T.J., Berbari, E.F., Osmon, D.R. 2005. Epidemiology, Treatment and Prevention of Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infections. Mayo Clinic Proceedings. 80: 1201-1208.
• Kazakova, S.V., Hageman, J.C., Matava, M. Srinivasan, A., Phelan, L. Garfinkel, B., Boo, T., McAllister, S. Anderson, J., Jensen, B., Dodson, D., Lonsway, D., McDougal, L.K., Arduino, M., Fraser, V.J., Killgore, G., Tenover, F.C., Cody, S., Jernigan, D.B. 2005. A Clone of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus among Professional Football Players. The New England Journal of Medicine. 352: 468-475.
• Larson, E. 2006. Skin Hygiene and Infection Prevention: More of the Same or Different Approaches? Clinical Infectious Diseases. 29: 1287-1294.
• Naimi, T.S., LeDell, K.H., Como-Sabetti, K., Borchardt, S.M., Boxrud, D.J., Etienne, J., Johnson, S.K., Vandenesch, F., Fridkin, S., O'Boyle, C., Danila, R.N., Lynfield, R. 2003. Comparison of Community- and Health Care-Associated Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection. JAMA. 290: 2976-2984.

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