Check Out MRSA Watch Blog & Dave Roberts

If you're interested in tracking the development of the MRSA menace, particularly in the UK, I highly recommend the MRSA Watch blog, run by Dave Roberts. I recently added MRSA Watch to the Medical Blogs link list after reviewing its excellent content and having an email chat with Dave.

Here are some outtakes from that conversation:

MRSA Watch came about because I've had a long-term interest in writing about public health issues, especially after reading writers like Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague [see on Amazon.com]. I was tipped over into action by the death of my wife's mother - we were never told what she had, but massive infections caused complete organ failure, a classic sign of agressive MRSA. I decided to investigate and also concluded that a helpful web site was a good place to discover whether a book on the subject would have any readers. MRSA has become a worldwide media issue and a major political issue here in the UK, and the site has become very busy. We are now approached by the media daily.

It's clear that some of the causes of MRSA can be found in complacency, some in the practices of drug companies, others in our lifestyle choices. Failure to combat it often relates to issues of money.

I approach this subject from the perspective of my Christian faith, and can't help but think of the verses in Matthew 25 where we're encouraged to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and generally care for people in need. The Old Testament prophets championing of the cause of the poor (Amos, Hosea and Micah) is also a provocation.

I'd like to highlight Dave's faith a bit further. He's a contributor to RELEVANT Magazine, author of Following Jesus: A Guidebook for the Non-Religious [see on Amazon.com], and co-author with Peter Greig of Red Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer is Awakening a Generation [see on Amazon.com].

Organized prayer was a major contributor to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. I believe that similar organized prayer -- by people with compassionate hearts -- may also be the engine that will power the major discoveries and breakthroughs to solve tough public-health problems like antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and the need for vaccines against HIV, malaria and other diseases.