MRSA "Epidemic"...?

[Stephi Rae]

So here's the deal...

I was just recently hospitalized for a spontaneous, mystery infection in my knee that they called MRSA. (pronounced mursa) The nurses and doctors at the hospital kept saying that while it used to be isolated to people living in hospitals and the hospital staff, it is no at a near-epidemic stage in the community. They are saying that it is very common now among athletes, and military personnel undergoing physical training. The most logical explanation is that I got it from a turf burn I got playing soccer, but that was more than a week before the infection even started showing small signs of pain and swelling, and the burn was a good four inches from the infection site, which is right below my kneecap.

Basically, my question is has anyone ever even heard of this??!! I hadn't... I'm astonished! I was lucky because I went into the ER once it swelled up to the size of a tennis ball... but they sent me home and I was there two more times with draining, and other problems because MRSA doesn't react to any but the strongest IV antibiotics and the culture took three days to confirm it was MRSA. If I had waited even a few more days, the infection would have spread fully into my knee joint and I would likely have lost my lower leg. Not to mention the complications that I had during my hospital stay, resulting in this being a life threatening experience for me. As a 17-year old athlete who cannot wait to get out from under my parent's control and go do something with my life, in the robotics field... this was a very scary experience.

Aside from hoping for some information as to whether I was just ignorant, I hope that more people can be informed of how awful things like this can be. While basically impossible to prevent, it is important that any sort of infection that is extremely painful, swollen, red, and warm to the touch be checked out immediately. They will send you home the first few times. But if the antibiotics do not work in the first 24 hours, it is essential to go back. Even if you really do not want to. I was home alone when this happened... my parents had left the same morning with my younger sisters for a week-long vacation. I had to call them that night at 11pm and tell them that I needed someone to take me to the hospital. My mom came home the next day, and so started our "adventure". This is really scary stuff... Especially since now I know that every time I step out onto that soccer field and dive to save a ball (I'm a goalkeeper), it could start all over again.

Please let me know if you've ever heard about this stuff...

[Cynette]

Oh my! Thank goodness that you will be ok...rushes to talk to son about mystery swelling on knee that he was complaining about...just a bone chip...piece of cake compared to this MRSA thing!

And thanks for realizing that there is something us parental units are good for, other than annoying and embarassing you! Kind of like the Simon and Garfukel song...like a bridge over troubled water...

It will be interesting to see if others have shared your experiences!

[KathieK]

There is an article about MRSA in the August issue of Reader's Digest that everyone should read. I'm not a germ-ophobic, but I take extra precautions during FIRST competition season since I tend to get sick after attending them. (I might even give up on my hugs and handshakes this coming year - not that I don't want to greet everyone, but because I need to stay healthy!)

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

Though I haven't had it myself, I have friends who have. For those who don't read the whole article, at least keep these basic points in mind:

MRSA is an immensely antibiotic-resistant bacteria that has essentially grown in hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics. Since it is constantly in an environment with so many antibiotics, it is impossible to remove with standard antibiotics and requires much more advanced treatment.

You are doing your body a mean deed when you ask for antibiotics for every inkling of a cold or flu you get - this is fairly common in doctors' offices, but colds and flu are viruses and can't be shut down by antibiotics. Instead, whatever bacteria you have becomes resistant to these medicines and if you get say, bronchitis or strep and you need those medicines they might not work.

Some people also call these staph infections - the ones discussed in the article are called "CA-MRSA", or basically community strains of staph which are genetically different from hospital ones, and spread to people who have never been exposed to hospital MRSA. They can be dormant for a long time, and triggered when the immune system is particularly weak. They also apparently have a nasty habit of re-occurring.

[Stephi Rae]

That is a great (in a sense...) article... it explains the situation well... I was very lucky that my infection spread slower in relation to the kids mentioned in the article. I was put on three different antibiotics, but it continued to get worse. They then put me on the vancomycin that was mentioned in the article as well, which I will be on through an at home IV program for at least another week. The problem is that the vancomycin itself is dangerous. Serious side affects include both severe kidney and neurological damage. It was alarming to read about the CA-MRSA (which is the type that I had) spreading to the lungs. A few hours after my surgery, I went into respiratory arrest. After that was under control, I was in a coma for a couple of hours. I had to be on oxygen for a few days after coming out of the coma. I am still having some minor breathing problems, and have breathing exercises that I am supposed to be doing. As far as I know, the doctors never even suspected the possibility of it having spread. I will definitely be keeping a closer eye on how my lungs are feeling for the next few weeks.

I have also been warned by my doctors that it is very hard to shake this disease. That it can just show up anywhere now that I've had it once, without ever getting cut or anything. I am going to have to be extremely cautious from here on out.

Thank you again for the article, and for the highlight as well. More information is appreciated, as I am still learning about this myself. I was only released from the hospital saturday afternoon.

[Pavan Dave]

Read the wiki on MRSA and thought it was interesting.

On another note:

Originally Posted by KathieK

There is an article about MRSA in the August issue of Reader's Digest that everyone should read. I'm not a germ-ophobic, but I take extra precautions during FIRST competition season since I tend to get sick after attending them. (I might even give up on my hugs and handshakes this coming year - not that I don't want to greet everyone, but because I need to stay healthy!)

You can always "pound it" or "fist pound" somebody. One of our mentors doesn't shake hands and I guess it is safer than shaking hands.

[KyleGilbert45]

MRSA is nasty stuff. I work for a private ambulance service that does a lot of nursing home transfers, etc. A good portion of our patients have MRSA or probably have it and just don't know. While we take measures to avoid exposure (gloves, gowns, etc), we are sure we clean our trucks and cots good after each patient contact. I've had to deal with wound MRSA and respiratory MRSA (this is a bad one) almost on a daily basis since March, and have been lucky enough to not contract the virus. One of my co-workers was not so lucky.

I've heard a lot of people (doctors, nurses, lpn's, cna's , etc) refer to it as "epidemic" and I'm starting to believe them.

As long as you wash your hands frequently, take appropriate PPE measures, and make sure you throughly clean out wounds it is really not much to worry about.

EDIT: Good link about MRSA. http://www.jems.com/news_and_article...infection.html

[Kyle]

MRSA is something that I deal with on an everyday basis at work on the ambulance and fire trucks, MRSA is very very common in nursing home, assisted living homes and hospitals or people that have had long stays in hosptials and even frequent visitors to the people in the hospitals. MRSA is what some consider a "super bug" because there are strains that have no cure and never really go away. MRSA can also become very common with high school wrestling so be careful wash often.

[Taylor]

As Eugenia alluded to, MRSA is basically a human-developed problem. By having had a medical culture in which GPs basically treat everything with antibiotics, we've got bugs that developed immunities. Thankfully, that mindset is leaving the medical community as doctors (and patients) are becoming more informed of the situation. Which also explains why doctors are hesitant to treat MRSA chemically - who's to say when the next mutant strain will arise that will beat the best antibiotics we've got.
Sometimes, the "old wives' meds" of chicken soup, lots of fluids, vitamins C and E, and lots of rest make the best medicine. All too often patients come to doctors demanding antibiotics, making superbugs.

(superbug, superbug, does whatever a superbug does)