An emerging epidemic of drug-resistant staph infections has broken out among gay men in both Los Angeles, officials said.

San Francisco officials confirmed to KTVU that they also were treating several patients suffering from the new strain. See video of KTVU The 10 O'clock News report of the outbreak to the left.

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New Strain Of Staph Striking SF Gay Community

Large, painful skin infections, which began turning up early last fall among gay men, have surfaced with increasing frequency over the past months. Though doctors found the symptoms alarming, it took time to confirm that Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, was causing the skin boils, deep abscesses and surrounding inflammation.

"The concern is this organism could spread to and cause disease in the community at large," said Dr. Peter Ruane, an infectious disease specialist in Los Angeles. "It seems to be able to attack normal skin in healthy people."

Ruane, an AIDS specialist, said he is aware of 40 cases among his and colleagues' patients. The infection appears to be spreading through skin-to-skin contact, including sex, and it has proved to be impervious to common antibiotics.

There have been no deaths, but the infection can be fatal if it spreads to the blood and antibiotics fail or it goes untreated.

Specimens sent to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's microbiology lab were analyzed and it was determined the cases involved a genetically identical strain of resistant staph, Ruane said.

Scientists also learned the strain contains a powerful toxin, Panton-Valentine leukociden, which has been seen in resistant staph outbreaks in France and elsewhere in the United States.

The county is sending samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to see if the same strain has been seen elsewhere. A researcher at the nonprofit Public Health Research Institute in Newark, N.J., already has found the strain in Los Angeles identical to one found among 39 hospitalized AIDS patients in 1997 in New York City.

County health officials, with help from the CDC, have started a public health investigation to understand how the infection is being spread in order to develop strategies to contain it.

Drug-resistant staph infections have long been recognized as problems in nursing homes and hospitals, but the current outbreak marks the first time the infection has been reported in the gay community. Doctors said there is a potential it could spread widely and quickly because many of their gay patients frequent bathhouses and engage in sex with multiple partners.

Staphylococcus aureus lives on the skin's surface, usually existing harmlessly in the nose, armpits and groin. Infections typically start in a cut or other opening, but the infections seen in local gay men took hold in unbroken skin.