New Free Resource Increases MRSA Diagnostic Accuracy Among Physicians

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Logical Images, Inc. announces the availability of MRSA Visual Knowledge, a free online resource that aids in the identification of MRSA infections. Logical Images is the developer of both VisualDx, a widely used clinical decision support software installed in more than 450 locations, and VisualDxHealth, a unique online consumer health resource. MRSA Visual Knowledge is now available at www.LogicalImages.com/resourcesMRSA.htm to educate doctors by providing trusted medical images of confirmed MRSA skin infections combined with expert-written clinical information.

Art Papier, MD, chief scientific officer of Logical Images, stated, Skin disease and skin infections are seen every day in every medical office and every hospital. The challenge for physicians is to recognize what is serious and what isnt, and to treat every patient appropriately. With thousands of possible diagnoses, split-second decisions are sometimes made with incomplete information. This means that, often, any red, warm skin rash is treated conservatively with antibiotics, even when the rash isnt infectious and these drugs arent needed.

Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) skin infection is currently one of the most important emerging infections facing the public today, stated Noah Craft, MD, PhD, DTM&H, tropical, international and humanitarian medicine editor for Logical Images. Craft continues, Commonly mistaken for spider bites, under-diagnosis can lead to severe systemic infections, while over-diagnosis can lead to the unnecessary use of antibiotics and potentially worsening patterns of antibiotic resistance.

Logical Images has designed a visual medical guidance system, VisualDx, that helps doctors fine-tune their diagnoses, so they feel more confident theyve made the right diagnosis and more comfortable with treatment options that dont add to the unnecessary use of antibiotics. Reducing the over-prescription of antibiotics and assisting doctors to choose the correct antibiotics may ultimately help combat the development of resistant strains of bacteria, such as MRSA.

In response to the immediate need for physicians to access quality, expert MRSA information, Logical Images has launched MRSA Visual Knowledge, the broadest visual online resource available for the diagnosis of MRSA. The resources combination of images and expert information, excerpted from VisualDx and developed with the editorial advice of Loren Miller, MD, MPH, chief infection control officer at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and the principal investigator on several NIH grants examining CA-MRSA transmission patterns, allows the physician to review and evaluate in direct comparison to the patients presentation and can serve to refresh physicians training on the diagnosis and treatment of MRSA skin infections. Additionally, Logical Images online consumer health resource, VisualDxHealth, now highlights MRSA infections, giving consumers access to the same trusted images but with expert information written in a consumer-friendly manner. VisualDxHealth, available at www.VisualDxHealth.com, is an excellent education tool for physicians to direct their patients to.

Source: Logical Images, Inc.