Dodge man touring state to educate people about MRSA

    Ben Garringer has a double mission this summer: Visit consumer-run organizations for adult mental health around the state, and educate people about avoiding methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.
    Sometime within the next few weeks, the Dodge City man will begin a bicycle tour of Kansas to visit CROs and raise awareness of MRSA, a drug-resistant strain of the Staphyloccocus aureus bacterium that can prove fatal if left untreated. His tour will start with a trip to Liberal and continue from there.
    "It's going to be a good time," he said in an interview Thursday. "It's going to be fun."
    Garringer said he contracted an MRSA infection some time ago — he's not sure exactly when — but he wasn't aware of it at first. He later attended a conference in Wichita, where a nurse noticed he was limping, examined his wound and noticed that it had been infected.
    A Wichita hospital later confirmed the infection.
    The news alarmed Garringer, who realized that he might have unwittingly infected other people.
    "I've been up there shaking people's hands, hugging people," he said. "Everybody I know has been exposed to this, and they had no idea because I had no idea. So, people need to know about this."
    Garringer said once his leg injury heals, his health will be good enough that he can proceed with the bicycle tour. He expects the trip to last about a month and a half.
    MRSA and other skin infections generally start as small red bumps resembling pimples, boils or spider bites, but they can turn quickly into painful abscesses that require surgical draining, according to the Mayo Clinic's Web site. The bacteria are sometimes confined to the skin, but they can penetrate into the body and cause potentially life-threatening infections.
    Thoroughly washing your hands remains the best defense against infection from germs including MRSA, according to the Web site. Other prevention tips include keeping any wounds covered, showering after athletic games or practices and avoiding sharing personal items like razors and towels.
    Garringer said the primary goal of his bicycle tour is to educate people about MRSA and the steps they should take to avoid infection. As a member of the Dodge City Peaceful Tribe CRO, he also wants to promote unity among the state's 23 CROs — nonprofit organizations run by current and former consumers of mental health services.
    He said he is looking forward to the tour, which unofficially began June 30 with a trip to Garden City and back that served as a test run.
    "I'm pretty excited," he said.

Reach Eric Swanson at (620) 408-9917 or e-mail him at eric.swanson@dodgeglobe.com.