Staph is becoming harder to treat

WASHINGTON - Drug-resistant staph bacteria picked up in ordinary community settings are increasingly acquiring superbug powers and causing far more serious illnesses than they have in the past, doctors reported yesterday.

These widespread germs used to be easier to treat than the dangerous forms of staph found in hospitals and nursing homes.

"Until recently we rarely thought of it as a problem among healthy people in the community," said Dr. Rachel Gorwitz of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now, the germs causing outbreaks in schools, on sports teams and in other social situations are posing a growing threat.

"They're becoming more resistant and they're coming into the hospitals," where they swap gene components with other bacteria and grow even more dangerous, said Dr. Keith Klugman, an infectious disease specialist at Emory University. The germ is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. People can carry it on their skin or in their noses with no symptoms and still infect others.

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