My dad sadly got a staph infection back in 2000 during a back operation. I've heard it's difficult to treat at times. Any truth to this?

Is it on the surface of the skin? Tea tree oil surprisingly works well for this. That triple antibiotic over the counter stuff doesn't do anything to the strains out there right now. Internal, you gotta use something like Bactrim. Make sure he takes probiotics with it, or you'll get some wicked upset stomach

I think once you get one it is easier to get another one.  I just got out of the hospital with my second one in three years.

My sister has been dealing with this for a number of months and has been pretty sick several times.  I don't think she knows if it will ever go away for her.  Her doctor gave her an "unlimited" scrip for a strong antibiotic and she fills it and takes a course of the meds whenever she feels it coming on her.  You would think that in most people, this is curable after appropriate treatment.  Perhaps not though.

dvo

Allimed will cure MRSA

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/25704.php

Staph is just a bacteria... it doesn't just sit in your body for years then come out like a herpes infection (virus).

 

Allicin kills bacteria.

"The S(=O)S thiosulphinate
group in allicin is thought to react with a variety of SHcontaining
enzymes within the bacterial cell, and allicin has
been reported to have a range of potential targets. It is
reported to inhibit the acetyl CoA forming system, to inhibit
DNA and protein synthesis, and to target RNA
polymerase;18–20 and these are responsible for the agents
antibacterial effect."

Antibacterial activity of a new, stable, aqueous
extract of allicin against methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus

Oh, the fail in this thread.



Here's a better place for information on MRSA:



http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/

I deal with it pretty regularly.

Staph Aureus...."Golden Staph" (from the color of the pus produced) is a Bacteria.

Methicillin Resistant S. Aureus...is a variety that has developed a resistance to an antibiotic.

Colonization is the presence of bacteria on your skin (or in your nose).

Infection is a clinical diagnosis...signs include redness, drainage, etc.

So....everyone has S. Aureus on their skin, along with MANY, MANY other types of bacteria.

Hospitals swab the noses of patients to see if they have MRSA and isolate them based on this (one of my pet peeves...I think it is a mistake to isolate based on a nasal swab...isolation based on active colonization or infection of a wound is one thing, labeling patients based on a nasal swab is another).  

MRSA isn't some 'scary monster' it is just a resistant bacteria.     There are antibiotics (oral and IV) that work for it.....and your first line of defense it an intact skin and then good local wound care....the last line of defense is the antibiotics.  

AFARR

I had MRSA. Believe I got it after a very short stay in the hospital as well.

It resides in the pits of your nose (inside, on the tip of your nose). Makes that area extremely tender. Blowing your nose becomes a special kind of hell.

Then it spreads pretty easily. Mainly settles under your arms and in your crotch. You develop these almost rock hard nodes. They feel like huge bumps but you can't really see them. Very tender and I had it so bad I was just covered in them. As I said, they feel like they are visible but really aren't.

You might get blotches on your skin or other discoloration. This happened to me as well.

Mine was resistant to antibiotics. They would keep it in check but as soon as I stopped it came back very quickly. I ended up having to use bacitracin (I think? Sp?). It is an antibiotic ointment you put in your nose, where the infection lives. It works pretty quick. But to really kill it I had to take sulfates. Doc said this is what they used to use for infections back in the day. Guaranteed to kill antibiotic resistant strains as it uses a straight chemical reaction. Works fine, just takes longer and you will have some raunchy burps.

Over all it took better part of a year before I felt decently cleared up. Took around another year to get my nose fully healed. Even now, five or more years later, I panic when my nose gets sore.

It is not a quick fix OP. So if it is being treated don't count days. Just do the stuff as directed and over time it will start dissipating. If it is just horrible then treatment should bring it down to a manageable level pretty quick.

According to my Dr, these strains are an excellent example of what happens when people don't take all of an antibiotic. To be honest, there were times I didn't before but afterward I made sure too.

Well the infection was inside his body underneath the skin. The fluid we saw leak out once or twice was of a clear nature. It looked like water.

Exactly, and their is a soap that will help kill it on the skin, but I forgot what it is called.

I came in to post the above, but I'm no doctor.  A family member passed a away recently due to complications from MRSA.  Many in my family visited frequently.  Initially, we all gowned up, masks, gloves etc.  After a while the facility dropped all of the gowning up protocols for visitors and care providers.



Over the course of a year, I did have contact with patient but never stuck my hands in the wound.  I always washed using the facility's fancy anti-bac soap, up before and after visiting.



So, pretty good chance I'm colonized?



 

Hipiclense

Hibiclens

This thread has horrible, horrible information.
I am a nurse, I have MRSA. I will always have MRSA....
I say again: This thread has horrible information.

if you'r worried feel free to rub you're entire body down with alcohol or diluted bleach. then start picking your nose with hand sanitizer LOL. I actually did that once when a MRSA patient sneezed all over me. Being an EMT is not worth 12$/hr not even 20$ to me.

Ever see a MRSA (and every other staph known to man) infected abscess EXPLODE? Now there is so nasty shit lol. Love being an RN... No, not really.

I got MRSA on my chest when I went to the docs for a nasty poison ivy rash on my chest. Skin was already compromised, so as soon as the rash started healing I got what looked like massive zits where the rash used to be. The bacteria does tend to hang around after your body heals from the infection. It can hide in your nose, ground and arm pits. To kill it completely is kinda hard, as you have to take regular chlorine baths and wipe bactroban (NOT BACITRACIN ZINC) up your nose. And even if you do get it off your skin completely, a later trip to the hospital will likely get MRSA Staph on your skin again.

We just got a new instrument that uses genetic testing to identify mrsa on nasal swabs. Right now every patient that is admitted to a unit has surveillance cultures, that are composed of an mrsa swab from the nares and a vre and mdro swab from the groin. MDRO stands for multidrug resistant organism. We look for gram negative rods that are resistant to certain antibiotics.

MRSA is just staph aureus that is resistant to some of the penicillin's. It is considered normal flora when found on the skin. The test simply indicates colonization, not infection. People even have it in the sinus' without symptoms of disease.

Slobber some mrsa on you chest incision after heart surgery and it becomes a killer if not treated properly. Doctors are not supposed to be treating all the patients based on this but I know of at least one that does.

People have a lot of gram negative bacteria on their groin fold. We have to test each one to be sure it's not a resistant one. It seems excessive to test everyone, but do to liability issues the hospital must determine whether you got a resistant organism at the hospital or you came in with it. They want to do this to every patient. I don't see how the hospital can stay in business, I understand these tests are not charged to the patient.


Anyhoo, MRSA can be normal but if you are compromised you are more susceptible to getting sick. Some of the antibiotics needed to treat it can only be given per IV.

This...

If I dont shave my head I start getting it on my scalp within 3 days...Scalp and on my fingers...it sucks, all the soap and hibiclense in the world hasnt fixed it...shavingn the noggin keeps it at bay on my scalp but the fingers just pop up when it feels l;ike it...

"Roll that disgusting staph infection footage".

suppressed immune system leads to MRSA showing its ugly head

what kind of plates are yall' using for groin? or are yall' using PCR testing?
 

Crushed raw garlic

MRSA nearly killed my wife in 2005. After 3 and 1/2 months of hospitalization and lots of other complications.(she also has Lupus and is a Cancer survivor) I learned some things.
1) Hospitals and being in one is expensive(over $850,000.00 at last count)
2) We all carry some form of staph on us , all the time.
3)I really, really cannot get by day to day without my wife.
4) tea tree oil and other home cures are not real cures, but if you believe in em, and want to use em, go ahead

Screw the naturopathic shit.  Vanc it from orbit.

Looks like y'all go this pretty covered.


<––––––Had staph in high school as a wrestler





OP, my doc told me it colonizes int he nose, sometimes goes away sometimes never fully does.  Also told me as many as 1 in 3 people have it, it just doesnt affect them.  


Same doc told me that when it's gone, you're good to go, but the skin is still compromised on that particular area so you're likely to have issues with it later if you ever get another skin disease.

I had thrice annual Herpes Gladiatorum outbreaks on the spot that my staph originated from.  For about 3 years.




ETA: The VERY, EXTREMELY, EARTHSHATTERINGLY important distinction here, as someone else said, it whether it's Staph Aureas or MRSA
ETA2:  They gave me Sulfamethoxazole to treat my staph.  I had a Sulfa-drug reaction that could have killed me.  Make sure if he's ever given a Sulfa drug, you constantly look out for hives and swelling.  My whole mouth swelled up, and supposedly after that happens your throat starts to swell, cutting off breathing.  I'm pretty lucky I got to a doctor.

Basically.

My wife just got finished with 5 weeks of Vancomycin IV treatment twice a day under the care of a Infectious Disease Specialist.
It was her third MRSA infection in a year, as stated above, they Vanc'd it from orbit and put her on two weeks of Bactrim DS after the IV treatment. She went through the hibiclens scrubs and given Altabax ointment to place on the site of the abscess.

She had to have it surgically incised and drained, when all said and done had a golf ball sized hole in her groin area. It was real fun packing that every day. I watched her hobble around without complaining on an ankle she fractured in two places for three days, until I finally convinced her that there were signs of a fracture and she went to the Dr. She is a tough cookie, yet the first two packings with 15mg of Lortab in her system, had her screaming out loud.

I had a MRSA infection a while back in my nose, fortunately I have not had a recurring infection (yet?).
I started a thread in team that is now in the archives. I will post a link to the thread, I even posted a picture of my nose.
A couple of physicians posted good information on the subject.

Hope everything works out OK, severe infections are definitely not a fun experience.
Here is the link:
http://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=1&f=75&t=1046498

We are going to start using the special vre plates that turn the colonies various shades of blue. We just got in our pcr instrument. We do the PNA fish for positive blood cultures.

We tried to use the mrsa plates awhile back but one of the techs didn't like the color blue.  So they didn't fucking use it! Most people there have been there forever and are very resistant to change.

My wife had an infection on her leg earlier this month.  It progressed very quickly, and I knew from the instant I looked at it that it was either MRSA or a brown recluse bite, so I dragged her to urgent care that night.  The doc took a split second glance at it and declared "hot compress, elevation, and we're giving you Bactrim."  He was very sharp and obviously knew his shit as we discussed treatment, dressing, and trigger indicators for potential trips to the ER if it got worse.

It got worse.

I got a very cold pit in my stomach two days later when my wife said it hurt too much to keep up on the hot pad, I looked at it, and it had doubled in size after 60 hours on sulfa antibiotics.  Yes, that's right... my wife had MRSA that didn't respond to sulfa.


Soooooo... we blitzed to the ER.  They didn't even bother with Vancomycin, they went straight to IV Cubicin, some new Fist-of-God class stuff that came out just a few years ago.  Apparently it depolarizes the cell membranes of the bacteria - basically makes them disintegrate.  

The ER doc incised, drained, and swabbed it for lab testing.  It supposedly tested vulnerable to sulfa, but nobody could explain why it doubled in size while she was on the Bactrim.  They seemed pretty nervous when that got pointed out.


Good news is she recovered quickly and didn't scar too bad (looks like she took a 9mm to the back of the calf).  

Bad news is our insurance deductible is $3,000, and the whole visit cost almost exactly... $3,000.  The Cubicin alone was about $800.  Everybody tells you "insurance is for life-threatening emergencies that cost way more than you can pay out of pocket!"  Well, we had a life-threatening emergency that is way more than we can afford to pay out of pocket, and all that money we spent on insurance got us exactly jack shit.  So why, exactly, should I bother with insurance again...?  

It got bigger because it had a pocket of pus inside that needed to be drained.  No conspiracy... just a MRSA abscess.  

Abscesses don't get better on antibiotics... doesn't matter how much you give a patient.  They only get better with drainage

ETA:  I should clarify... it may not have had abscessed when you were first seen, so a trial of outpatient antibiotics is perfectly appropriate.  If all you have is a cellulitis, antibiotics are the proper treatment.  Once it's abscessed, however, it won't get better without drainage.  They probably didn't want to speculate about whether it needed drainage initially, because they weren't there, and didn't see it.  Unfortunately, if you say something like "wow... this thing really needed drainage," some people morph into insta-a**hole and go running back to the original doctor and threaten to sue... when the original physician might have done exactly the right thing.

Some people live for "gotcha"... so don't take it personally.  The reality is that she was probably treated appropriately both times.

From what I have read, the garlic extract compounds are only for fairly minor surface type indections.   For systemic or deeper abcess type infections the gold standard has been IV vancomycin, however some vancomycin resistant mrsa has been cropping up.  Currently the only treatment for that is Zyvox (Linezolid) usually IV, but unlike vancomycin it is effective systemically when given orally. Downside is it is very expensive.