MRSA and CA-MRSA topics

[EweSheep]

I had recently found out my sister's daughter, my neice, came down with CA-MRSA and as a parent, I was furious that she didn't tell me when they diagnoised it a year or two ago when my neice had the symptoms. She got it from using the football protection pads and came down with a sore under her armpit. From then on, the infection didn't go away until the doctor did some tests on it and found that she has MRSA. She is only 11 years old.

Last Sunday, my niece bragged and showed me the sore on her arm, which it looks like a pimple. I thought nothing of it until my sister told her not to pick at it and leave it alone. And then she told me and my mother that Abby has CA-MRSA and if she has any open weeping sores, she has to keep it covered and put on antibotics hopefully to treat the sores. She will always have it for the rest of her life. There is NO cure for her. Understandably, my sister was ticked about it but nothing she could do about it. My mom asked sis when did it started these problems and sis replied that it happened while she was football practice about a year and half ago, she believes and two other kids have it as well (not in her class but what sheknows of the school).

I am ticked off with the delay of knowing that my niece has MRSA and my daughter plays with her often. What are my chances of my daughter contracting this disease from her?

I know my niece still attends school and I don't know how much Abby has exposed herself unknowningly MRSA to her classmates. Would I get it too? My immunity is not that great either.

Your inputs, experiences, comments please?

 

[breezy]

Send me a PM. There are very effective CA-MRSA treatments and prevention methods using essential oils. I am a certified aromatherapist and can help you with this if you would like

 

[booker81]

A large majority of people are Staph carriers(30% or so), and a small percentage of folks are MRSA carriers. The main difference is that MRSA is a Staph bug that is resistant to most antibiotics, and therefore, if it gets where it shouldn't it is harder to treat.

I'm a staph carrier, along with my sister, and we are more prone to staph infections, but no one in our family seems to have any "problem" related to it. No one else gets cellulitis and sores like we do, it's just what bug we happen to carry on us.

MRSA isn't like the chicken pox or herpes or something easy to "catch". In order to infect someone else, they have to have a pretty down immune system and a way for the bug to get where it shouldn't - open wound etc. Even then it still might be rejected by the body already - hence my sister and I not giving every living being a staph infection.

Some folks who do end up with a MRSA infection (usually from a hospital while undergoing a medical treatment that involves a wound) become carriers. The only difference for them is that if they get an open wound on them, they have a higher chance of infection, and needing antibiotics that are capable of killing that strain of staph.

CA-MRSA only means the source of contacting MRSA colonization on the skin is not determined to be from a hospital (HA or Hospital Aquired MRSA is much more "common".)

ALL of us have bacteria (bugs) on our skin. We need them. Some of us just have some stronger critters that live on us and have to take precautions as we are higher risk of infection. A very few of us (the MRSA carriers) have to really take care because the antibiotics to treat MRSA are very limited when the bacteria get out of control and go where they shouldn't.

As for your niece, treat her as normal, and just take care of any open wounds you may have (or your kids). If anyone ever DOES get an infection that isn't responding quickly to standard antibiotics, you just should notify your doctor there is a MRSA carrier in your family. The culture tests take a couple days to complete, but can pinpoint exactly what antibiotic will be best to treat and that will be prescribed.

ETA: DH's brother and son are MRSA carriers. When I had my huge infection hullabalo a few months ago, there was concern I contracted MRSA, however, cultures showed it was just my own staph I'd infected my knee with. The same tests also showed the best antibiotic to put me on (I was septic by then so IV fun).

 

[dewey]

It's rampant in schools and everyday places. Many never know they carry it...if kids or family members have been in school, dorms, daycare, gyms, grocery or other stores, hospitals, care facilities, military, etc., they could have, unknowingly, been the ones that infected other family members who actually develop symptoms.

 

[WyandotteTX]

I have had it for about 7 years now. My family...wife and daughter, are not at risk in any way from me carrying it. If you get a pimple....DONT mess with it. Put some mupirocin on it and it will be gone in a couple of days. BUT, if you mess with it and spread the infection around you are in for some nasty stuff.
I had a bad outbreak when I first got it......was on high powered antibiotics for a month, had to get three shots of roseferin(painful) and they wanted to admit me to hospital and put drains in my wound but I couldnt do that because I was coaching at the state track meet the next day...haha..
I havent had an outbreak of it in a very long time. To me its something I take mind of but I do not worry about it anymore honestly.

 

[EweSheep]

Thanks everyone! I just don't know how contagious this is but niece sometimes is not the brightest bulb there is when it comes to protect herself from others. She does have a nervous habit of picking at her sores.

So far, my daughter is fine. She can not wait to go swimming with her this coming summer!

I've been reading something on it, and one said Silver Spray or Silver Treatment was approved by FDA as a cure for MRSA. If it is a cure, why isn't it more available to patients? One thing I can figure out, is the cost or insurance can not pay for it (theyw ould consider it as "experimental" drug).

 

[booker81]

You got it on the experimental part. Pharm companies can't patent silver, and therefore won't push to test it, just like herbal type medicines aren't pushed for healing.

Silver won't "cure" MRSA, it just fights the infection. To "cure" MRSA as a whole, we'd have to eliminate all the MRSA carriers as well, and that would only be by offing them, or by completely destroying their whole bacterial load and making them start over - aka killing them (sorry WyandotteTX!)

It's something to think and be aware about, but it's not something to loose any sleep about.

A interesting thing: The medicine Mupirocin mentioned is actually a "product" of a bacteria most of us have on our skin, that does fight off Staph. aureus. We have a whole heap of bacteria living in and on our skin (100 billion or so), and they all compete and coexist to be there - many things they do are helpful (like the one that "makes" Mupirocin). We need those guys. Going crazy with the antibacterial soap and antibiotics also harms the good bugs on us, and keeps them from doing their job of keeping our skin at the right pH and fighting off other bacteria that doesn't belong there.

Antibiotics are a good thing - when used properly. Used all the time, they are NOT a good thing.

End of "interesting thing."

 

[chixie]

my grandson has MRSA... all the doctors told us was to make sure we wash our hands really good. Pretty sure he got it in the hospital since he was in the hospital longer than he was at home

 

[breezy]

http://staphinfectioninfo.blogspot.com/2007/10/mrsa-and-essential-oils-their-role-in.html
This is a link to some info on using essential oils on MRSA. There is a fair amount of info available on this subject.. I wasnt trying to sell anyone anything in regards to using oils for MRSA and I am NOT a part of the most popular MLM company that most people associate with when aromatherapy is mentioned. I just know that you can prevent outbreaks and the spread of CA MRSA/ MRSA using oils.

 

[claud]

you can buy Hibiclens(a chlorhexidine product) in a drug store(no prescription) and wash with that. It would help with any external Staph..
Typically, Staph colonizes the mucusol membranes(nose) and docs will sometimes prescribe something to put up one's nose.

Don't panic. Really the only difference between MRSA and SA is that one doesn't respond to the common antibiotics but there ARE antibiotics that kill MRSA.
MRSA is more of a public health issue than a personal threat(in comparison to regular old SA). It's not new - it was actually first isolated in 1961 but has become more common.