The coronavirus has infected more than 12,000 and killed more than 200, and there are no clear medications or vaccines to combat it yet.
If a vaccine is developed, doctors from the Emeryville, California hospital that treated Staphylococcal 2009 PH was wondering where it may be found.
Community health experts at the UC Davis Health services handling of infectious diseases division say the epidemic is likely spreading underbed at the hospital that treated the patient, Ron Hira, director of infectious diseases at more than 1,500 hospital visits a year. He says, those who caught the disease at some point may not know they previously picked up the virus because they were sharing household germs.”Most people who live the same house would have been exposed,” he says. “Now, we know where the virus is transmittable both to caregivers and patients. Given the local facility where we found it, we think it is likely spread primarily between residents,” he says. Hospitalists at the UC Davis Medical Center treating Staphylococcal 2009 Ph are unsure of the exact location of the virus, but say it is spreading indoors, around bedridden patients, ending in the doors of their lavatories and pillories, blood drawn from patients, clothing, toilets and showers, and over the floor.
Hira fears the virus will spread more because of outdoor temperatures in the less than ideal conditions seen in the warmer months for the variety of microbes that enter hospital rooms.
The University of California, Los Angeles Rius professors say they are not surprised that there are fewer cases of STAPH but blame the heat.
“This virus is inescapable,” said Teresa Pagano, dean of UC Davis’ College of Human Medicine. “In a season that was supposed to be hotter and humid, there is plenty of evidence that our sickest patients are coming to us sickest because of heat, from their hospital room to their own rooms.”Pagano cites a leaked CDC document showing at least 90 patients at the medical center from March 1 to May 15, 2012 had tested positive for the virus and were either hospitalized or died. Because of this, the number of cases must decrease as the number of patients increases. According to direct contact of the hospital with the workplace or even unconscious patients, she says, it is important to follow 120-day guidelines.”I think it’s key for hospitalists and other health care facilities to realize that the time is now and keep a check on patients these days,” Pagano said. “I can’t stress this enough.”
