‘Silent pandemic’: Antimicrobial resistance a growing threat to Canadians, experts say
Global News
A rising threat of superbugs, caused by antimicrobial resistance, has become a 'silent pandemic' contributing to thousands of deaths every year in Canada, experts say.
Rachel Sears was only 17 years old when a simple blemish on her face became a terrifying, painful ‘superbug’ overnight.
She had been working as a cashier at a grocery store and it’s there her doctors told her she must have picked up the antibiotic-resistant bacteria, possibly from some cash handled by an infected person.
She likely scratched or simply rubbed the blemish on her forehead – nothing out of the ordinary – and inadvertently infected herself, she said.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, it has a weird, swelling feeling.’ And I went to bed like nothing,” Sears said, recalling the hours after her shift.
“I woke up the next morning and it was so swollen. It was humongous.”
She immediately went to the hospital where, 12 hours later, physicians determined it was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and she was placed on intravenous antibiotics, used for infections that are resistant to oral antibiotics.
Sears, now 32, says the experience was “traumatic,” as she was only a teen at the time.
“My mom was like, ‘What’s happening? This is my baby.’ These are like big, scary words,” she recalled.
