And now I've got MRSA... is it serious?

[Ataraxia]

Went to the hospital last week, expecting some good news on my ileostomy reversal date. I got told that it could another 3-4 months wait

On top of that, they did some tests on me for MRSA, and the resuls came back as positive today.

I've read up on MRSA, briefly, but am still a bit confused to what is actually it. Is my immune system weak? Meh. I just don't know what's happening. Help?

 

[beth]

It depends if you are infected, eg in a wound, or whether you just have it on your skin...

 

[RHOV]

Do you have an active MRSA infection or are you just a carrier? If you're a carrier, they will probably have to be really careful not to spread it to other patients, and if you have the infection then it'll have to be treated... somehow.

 

[beth]

Isn't IV vancomycin the treatment of choice for infection?

 

[Ataraxia]

I'm a carrier.

 

[beth]

Don't panic. Just a bit of a scrub then.

 

[Ataraxia]

I can't understand how I've got it, though. I shower 2-3 times a day. I mean, I'm a proper hygiene freak!

 

[teeny5]

Crohn's for sure has immune function issues. Do you maybe wash too much? Sometimes all that anti bacterial and over cleansing kills good bacteria on your skin and actually weakens your immune system because you can't build up any antibodies to anything.

I wouldn't worry about it. From what I read it is treatable. Maybe just something you will have to warn others of when you are seeking medical care.

 

[beth]

AIUI doesn't matter how many times you shower, you'll still carry it. We all have these bacteria about us but it rarely causes a problem. Like C.Diff in my guts wasn't a problem until I had antibiotics to cure an infection. Which then allowed the C.Diff to overgrow out of control and cause me problems.

You need to talk to your docs to find out what they'll do about it and what impact it'll have, if any.

 

[Ataraxia]

Cheers, guys.

 

[kello82]

MRSA is staph right?

if so then im in a similar situation....when my midline was infected it was staph and now one of the pyodermas on my leg is staph. does that mean that it travels around in my body? or is i just coincidence that i picked it up twice?
im confused about it too.

since they cultured my leg and discovered it they put me on an antibiotic called minocycline?....

 

[beth]

Minocycline is used to treat certain strains of MRSA infection: according to wikipedia. And yeah, it's a staph.

 

[Ataraxia]

What's a Staph? The link won't open for me.

I have my body and nasal wash from my doctor, but I've been instructed not to use it until 5 days before my next operation -which is 4 months from now. Which is quite confusing.

 

[acuisle]

Hi Ataraxia!

MRSA stands for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. Methicillin an antibiotic of the penicillin family, heavy duty, and no longer works on this particular Staph bacterium, so we say Resistant. Staph Aureus because that is the name of the species of bacteria involved.

There are a bazillion staph species and Aureus is very common. It can also be very nasty.

We all have a zillion "germs" on our bodies all the time, and one or more of the staph family is probably included in that. Where you don't want them is on the inside; that is why doctors need to wash their hands between patients.

MRSA became resistant to methicillin in hospitals, long term care places like nursing homes and veterans facilities. There is a lot of methicillin being used in these places so a lot of chances for this particular strain of staph to have a lot of experience with it. Bacteria reproduce rapidly and go through a lot of generations in a day, even---so little mutations by which even only one bacterium of the bunch in one infection could survive an antibiotic, were passed down to the next generation, and the next, etc, really fast, and that is how we wind up with a resistant bacterium.

You got colonized on your skin, and now you are being advised to use this wash before your surgery so you can kill it off long enough for them to get in there & do their thing. They don't want to let it get from your skin to your insides, where things will get really bad if it does.

For what it is worth, I read somewhere that some of the more persistant bugs can be knocked down on the skin by washing with a mild--repeat mild---chlorine bleach solution.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/147954.php
"Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus Colonization in Atopic Dermatitis Decreases Disease Severity."
Jennifer T. Huang, Melissa Abrams, Brook Tlougan, Alfred Rademaker, and Amy S. Paller.
Pediatrics, May 2009; 123: e808 - e814.
doi:10.1542/peds.2008-2217


They gave kids who had atopic dermatitis baths in mild bleach solution. AD patients often have staph aureus in their lesions.