Watch for MRSA, doctors warned

Seattle

Public Health — Seattle & King County is advising doctors in the area to consider treating patients with severe pneumonia for possible infection of antibiotic-resistant staph, known as MRSA.

Reports of MRSA, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, have been increasing across the country over the past five years, public-health officials said. So are reports of strains of MRSA that carry a toxin implicated in both soft-tissue infections and necrotizing (flesh-eating) pneumonia.

Flu infections are peaking locally and can make people vulnerable to bacterial respiratory infections, such as MRSA, health officials said.

In severe cases, the infection can be difficult to treat, particularly when not caught early, said Dr. Jeff Duchin, Public Health's chief of communicable disease control.

Seattle

5 hurt in wreck that backs up I-5

Northbound Interstate 5 traffic in the Lynnwood area was snarled for nearly two hours late Tuesday afternoon after a crash that injured five people.

A 17-year-old driver lost control of his SUV and it flipped over several times about 4:40 p.m., backing up traffic for several miles.

There were four passengers in the vehicle when it crashed, said Washington State Patrol spokesman Kirk Rudeen. Two female passengers, ages 17 and 19, were taken to Harborview Medical Center with serious injuries.

The driver and the two other passengers, a 20-year-old Everett man and an 18-year-old man, were treated at the scene. The names of those in the vehicle were not released.

Authorities said the SUV may have been involved in a hit-and-run crash in Lynnwood moments before the rollover.

Fort Lewis

Soldier wounded last August dies

Spc. Kevin S. Mowl, 22, assigned to Company A, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, died Monday of wounds he sustained last August during a tour of duty in Baghdad, the Defense Department announced.

Mowl, of Pittsford, N.Y., died at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He was injured Aug. 2 when the vehicle he was in was struck by a bomb.

Port Angeles

Animals explore new surroundings

So far, so good for 11 fishers, the weasel-like mammals trapped in British Columbia and then released in Olympic National Park a month ago, park officials report.

The animals, related to minks, martens and polecats, were released in various locations in the park with radio collars, and biologists have tracked signals from the animals on several occasions since. That tells them the animals are alive and exploring their new homes. Park officials hope to re-establish populations that were driven to extinction generations ago by overtrapping for their fur. But there's no evidence yet that any of the animals are mating.

Seattle Times news services