Finally! Some Real Reporting About MRSA

Perhaps the yelling had some effect. Newsweek provides some good information that counters the alarmism of previous reports. This strikes me as a key bit:

n the UCSF study, researchers found that men in a clinic for HIV-positive patients who had a history of having sex with men were 13 times more likely than other HIV-positive patients to get a particular form of community-associated staph infection called MRSA USA300. But this does not mean that there is a new "gay" form of MRSA, the study's authors say. USA300 has been around since 2002 and has appeared in at least 38 American states among heterosexual and homosexual patients. What is new is the rapid rate the bacteria spread among this particular population of gay men, studied between 2004-2006. Why these men are more vulnerable than the heterosexuals studied is still a question. Researchers stopped short of labeling USA300 a sexually transmitted disease, but they did note that the infections in the men they studied were commonly found on parts of the body where skin-to-skin contact occurs during sexual activity.

Gay men's health advocates point out that MRSA can be spread through any kind of skin-to-skin contact, either sexual or nonsexual, without regard for sexual orientation. And they have been very critical of the media for its focus on the sexual aspects of the story. "It's very unfortunate," says GMHC's Stackhouse. "It's very stigmatizing, it's alarmist, it's homophobic and it's just unnecessary."

The article, unfortunately, does not address the irresponsible press release from UCSF which started the whole thing, nor the senseless remarks of the chief researcher, which is unfortunate. On the whole, however, this is a lot better than what we've seen so far.

As far as Binh Diep's remarks, Jim Burroway has this summary:

With this latest study, MRSA quickly became the newest “gay plague” and lead author Binh Diep rang alarm bells around the world with remarks like this one to Reuters:

Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable.

That comment was like manna from heaven to anti-gay demagogues. But he didn’t stop there. Dr. Diep hyped the importance of his study to the San Francisco Chronicle, saying:

We probably had it here first, and now it is spreading elsewhere… This is a national problem, and San Francisco is at the epicenter.

Dr. Diep also said in his press release:

The potential widespread dissemination of multi-resistant form of USA300 into the general population is alarming.

But there’s a problem with all of this. None of it is true.

According to the medical literature — which Diep ought to be well acquainted with — the USA300 variant of MRSA is already widespread in the general population. And gay men, who are in the general population, had little to do with it. If the medical literature is any indication, it’s the “general population” that’s responsible for spreading MRSA into the gay community.

Diep's remarks are worse than irresponsible -- they misreprsent the entire situation completely. The UCSF Public Affairs department has issued an apology and what amounts to a repudiation of his statements, but the damage is done. All the usual suspects have seized on this as evidence of the threat we pose to America. Too bad it's all bullshit, but don't expect reality to intrude on their hype. Burroway's post, by the way, presents solid information along with a history of MRSA that is a lot more detailed than the Newsweek article.

But don't expect to see a lot of front-page stories with real information on this. Not in the mainstream media. Not gonna happen. Newsweek will probably be it. I doubt very much that NYT sees anything to correct.