A dangerous bug known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may aggressively attack flu-weakened lungs, according to William Schaffner, MD, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. MRSA was previously confined to hospitals but is spreading into communities nationwide. The link is unclear, but there may be a connection in the way that flu weakens the immune system and MRSA attacks it. MRSA is often marked by nasty skin infections. The strains contracted outside the hospital are now associated with some 13,500 deaths in the United States each year, many involving flu sufferers. “If you need further motivation to get a flu shot,” Schaffner says, “there it is.”

By Jessica Snyder Sachs

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