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Oct 24, 2005 11:07 pm US/Central
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Boy's Scraped Knee Triggers Near Fatal Illness
by Mary Ann Childers
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
An 8-year-old Chicago boy clings to life after simply scraping his knee. As CBS 2 Medical Editor Mary Ann Childers reports, doctors are concerned because of the kind of bacteria that caused it.
Eight-year-old Jewaun Smith got sick after he fell off his bike and scratched his leg Oct. 16.
But he was seen in four emergency rooms before doctors at the University of Chicago diagnosed a virulent staph infection that got into his blood stream, "and then caused this really incredible total body septic picture where every organ in his body began to fail," said Dr. Robert Daumn with pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Chicago.
This bacteria, called MRSA, is present on the skin and harmless in an estimated 1 percent of the population. It's resistant to most antibiotics.
At one time, you just got it in hospitals. But as a September New England Journal report revealed, more and more people are getting it in the community.
"In this hospital alone we've had 25-fold increase in the incidence of MRSA infections, and they're all community-based," Daumn said.
MRSA usually causes skin infections. Cases like Juwaun's, where it causes organ failure and lung-destroying pneumonia, are rare. And still a mystery to doctors.
Jewaun's mother, who's keeping a vigil at the hospital, insists her son is a fighter.
"I've talked to him, prayed over him, and told him I'm going to get the outfit ready for him when it's time to go home," said Jewaun's mother, Kansonia Love.
And Dr. Daumn, who is an internationally renowned MRSA expert, says he intends to send Jewaun home. After three days of treatment -- some experimental -- Jewaun's lung function has stabilized.
He's a long way from being out of the woods, but at least he's not getting worse.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)