SKIN INFECTIONS

SUMMARY: Doctors in San Francisco report that they are seeing an increase in cases of a drug-resistant bacterial skin infection among gay men.

Doctors in San Francisco report that they are seeing an increase in cases of a drug-resistant bacterial skin infection among gay men, just a week after similar reports started coming out of Los Angeles.

The bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus (better known as staph), has been a common problem in nursing homes and hospitals. But in the past several months, in both Los Angeles and San Francisco, there have been outbreaks among gay and HIV-positive men and groups of prisoners.

Although HIV-positive men are thought to be more susceptible to infections because they often have suppressed immune systems, doctors are not sure why apparently healthy people with no broken skin have been getting infected. Reports of the outbreaks have been spreading through gay communities in both cities, but doctors are quick to point out the infections can still be controlled.

"I don't want people to think this is the equivalent of a new HIV/AIDS disease," said San Francisco Department of Public Health Director Dr. Mitch Katz to the San Francisco Chronicle. As of yet there have been no reported cases of anyone dying from the infection, but the drugs needed to fight the resistant staph often have to be given intravenously and can require hospitalization.

The infections are usually spread by skin-to-skin contact or by touching a recently contaminated surface, according to the Chronicle.

No one is quite sure how many cases of the drug-resistant infection are out there, although one San Francisco doctor familiar with the outbreak estimated the city's cases number between 200 and 300.

Until recently, state and federal health officials were not asking doctors to report on individual cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now testing the strains that have appeared in San Francisco and Los Angeles to see if they are the same.