Staph infection

[Chucktown Husker]

if it is in fact MRSA they can use vancomycin to treat the staph infection. Then they have to monitor the peak and troughs, of the vanco to insure an appropriate level in your blood to be effective without causing damage to your liver or renal system.

 

 

Good luck DooD

 

 

GBR

 

then there is the VRE strain of bacteria that is resistent to vancomycin too. I blame doctors that prescribe ABX to every patient that comes in with the sniffles and has a cold. ie. virus and abx do nothing for viruses. no more soapbox.

Didn't they develop new antibiotic a few years back called platensimysin just for that incidence? I've heard of them using maggot therapy before also.

 

Platensimycin is still in clinical trials if I'm not mistaken. Vanc is usually the first drug given, but there are others that cover MRSA.

[Apathy]

Hi, I am huskerjock's fiancee and I am in the medical field. Rawhide is correct in stating that one of the main causes of MRSA is the overuse of antibiotics for illnesses that don't require them, i.e. viral illnesses such as colds, ear infections, sinus infections, bronchitis, sore throats that aren't strep throats, viral stomach flu, and on and on. Most illnesses that we visit the doctor for are often viral. Viral illnesses usually resolve on their own in a week or two. It is not until after a couple weeks of a viral infection not resolving that it could actually transition into a bacterial infection. Antibiotics work against bacteria and not viruses....yet doctors often will give patients antibiotics for viral illnesses because they want a quick fix to get the patient out of their hair or they do it because if they don't, the patient goes away feeling that they didn't receive proper care if they left without receiving a prescription for some kind of pill. We can all do ourselves a favor by going to the doctor when we are sick and if they try to give us an antibiotic for something that might be viral just NOT filling the prescription unless you notice the illness not resolving within a couple of weeks. MRSA that is acquired in the community, which is the case here with BRI, is becoming very common unfortunately. Areas that come into contact with the skin of multiple people are huge harbors for possible MRSA infections i.e. public gyms, locker rooms, wrestling mats, tanning beds, public showers, etc. This shouldn't deter us from using these facilities....we just need to be cautious if we have any areas of open skin whether from razor burn, hangnail, ingrown hair, a cut, etc. because the tiniest opening can get infected as BRI has experienced. If we cannot avoid these facilities when we have openings in our skin, then we should keep them covered during contact with any infected surfaces and immediately clean them when we leave. As far as the treatment for MRSA, some milder cases can be treated by cutting open the wound and draining it and placing on an oral antibiotic (because MRSA is a BACTERIA)such as Bactrim. Other more serious cases require IV antibiotics, such as vancomycin, for months. The best thing is to get the wound open in order for the body to discharge the pus that is harborring the bacteria and then to complete the course of the antibiotic so the medicine can get in the blood which will circulate to the site of the wound and help to heal it. Other antibiotics that are possible IV treatments of MRSA are linezolid and daptomycin....both are really $$$$$$ expensive and are saved for last resort if the vancomycin or Bactrim don't work. Good luck BRI with your treatment. (sorry everyone for the novel)

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Thanks for the response huskerjock's fiance. Thankfully my knee seems to be healing very well right now and the pain and swelling is gone. I did take the antibiotic Bactrim, I think, and that seemed to do the trick. Now it's just a wait and see type of thing to make sure it doesn't come back now that I'm done with the antibiotics.

[Apathy]

Thanks for the response huskerjock's fiance. Thankfully my knee seems to be healing very well right now and the pain and swelling is gone. I did take the antibiotic Bactrim, I think, and that seemed to do the trick. Now it's just a wait and see type of thing to make sure it doesn't come back now that I'm done with the antibiotics.

Holy crap I can't believe she actually did it lol. I told her about your knee and showed her how reply to this topic.

 

Being a Correctional Officer I've seen numerous cases of MRSA and Staph and that stuff is pretty nasty stuff. We had to isolate inmates in medical holding until the infection went away. We had like 4-5 males all get it at once and I was like "What did you guys do, rub up on each other or something?"

 

Hopefully its all done and taken care of because MRSA is some nasty stuff.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Thanks for the response huskerjock's fiance. Thankfully my knee seems to be healing very well right now and the pain and swelling is gone. I did take the antibiotic Bactrim, I think, and that seemed to do the trick. Now it's just a wait and see type of thing to make sure it doesn't come back now that I'm done with the antibiotics.

Holy crap I can't believe she actually did it lol. I told her about your knee and showed her how reply to this topic.

 

Being a Correctional Officer I've seen numerous cases of MRSA and Staph and that stuff is pretty nasty stuff. We had to isolate inmates in medical holding until the infection went away. We had like 4-5 males all get it at once and I was like "What did you guys do, rub up on each other or something?"

 

Hopefully its all done and taken care of because MRSA is some nasty stuff.

I was a Deputy Sheriff for 6 1/2 years in our local county jail here and I have also seen the nasty things that MRSA can do to you. Such a dirty environment that it didn't surprise me to see people getting it in jail. I was surprised to get it from my gym, they clean the hell out of things from what I've seen. I'm a clean freak to so it surprised me that I got it.

[rawhide]

When I was a nurse in our County Jail (jr talked me into it , I saw many cases that were despicable in their extent due to the inmates total lack of hygiene and knowledge. And seldom did a day go by that a Dep would ask me if a red spot was staph. And many of the cases I see in surgery are wound infections that need further care to heal. Yep, it's that easy to get. Antibacterial soap also is a cause of why bacteria change/mutate into stronger varieties. (per some sources)

 

Glad to hear you are staying on top of that infection BRI

 

 

GBR

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Quick question though, I've heard that once you get MRSA it's in your body for good and your more apt to get it again............that true?

[HuskerNLimbo]

Quick question though, I've heard that once you get MRSA it's in your body for good and your more apt to get it again............that true?

I pretty sure that is not true. One problem with Staphylococcus aureus is that its all over and usually doesnt interfere with your everyday life. An interesting fact (well interesting to a microbiologist, like myself) about Staph aureus is that if you took a swab to different parts of your body (skin, nose, mouth, etc), you would find the organism. MRSA is only different from regular Staph aureus in that it acquired resistance to methicilin, which is one of the harshest antibiotic treatments for infections around and usually isnt used unless the infections are severe.

 

So, now that your infection has cleared up (hopefully!), that doesnt mean that the bacterium passed on its resistance to other organisms that currently inhabit your knee. I hope this makes sense and helps!

[rawhide]

I concur. Everyone gets nares(nose) swabs on admit to the hospital now to check if they are + for MRSA. If the patient tests + the hospital doesn't lose any reimbursements if there are complications from MRSA. Everyone def has staph in their bodies, I got a cut on my foot in 1972 in Biloxi, Miss and 2 days later in Neb I got admitted to the hospital with red streaks up my leg and inguinal lymph nodes the size of golf balls. Yup, staph is crazy sh#t.

 

 

GBR

[huskerguy]

Wow I just now saw this thread... crazy stuff! I'm glad things seem to be getting better for you sounds like a scary situation.

 

Get Well Man!

[zoogs]

That's scary, man...good luck, glad to see you still around

[huskernation20]

Glad to hear things are getting better BRI!

I got a Staph infection on my shin after I pulled an ingrown hair. It swelled up to about the diameter of a dime...very painful! I went to the doctor, he told me it was a Staph infection, and prescribed me some antibiotics for treatment. That was years ago and now there is a dime shaped hollow spot in my leg where the infection once existed to remind me.

[RedNeckHusker]

MRSA gets real bad if it gets in your blood stream and starts swimming around your body. Vanc is all that will kill it and if it doesn't, you're a goner, and fast.

 

I know of a 12 year old boy that had a small scrape on his elbow. Caught flu, his immune system was depressed, took in MRSA, went to his lungs, and he was dead 5 days later. By the time he got to the hospital he was already septic so it was over.

 

Went like this:

 

- kid had the flu.

- then developed a cough.

- mommy took him to the doc-in-a-box, and doc gave him a steroid shot (uh oh wrong thing to do)

- next day boy is worse. mom takes him to their family doctor and doctor says "he's real sick, get him to the hospital immediately."

- by the next day he was in PICU on a vent.

- transported to a children's hospital by jet but it was all too late. The staff allowed him to regain consciousness so that he and the family could say their goodbyes.

 

Sad.

 

MRSA in the blood stream is almost always fatal in peds. It's a killer.

[T_O_Bull]

This kind of stuff scares me to death. My company takes care of 12 quadraplegics and checking for pressure sores and uti's is a daily thing. Good luck, BRI, I hope and pray all is well.

T_O_B