Question about mrsa?
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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA); Hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA)
Definition
MRSA infection is an infection with a strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria that is resistant to antibiotics known as beta-lactams. These antibiotics include methicillin, amoxicillin, and penicillin.
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Staphylococcus aureus (“staph”) are common bacteria that normally live on the skin. The bacteria also live harmlessly in the nasal passages of roughly 30% of the U.S. population. Staph can cause infection when they enter the skin through a cut or sore. Infection can also occur when the bacteria move inside of the body through a catheter or breathing tube. The infection can be minor and local (for example, a pimple), or more serious.
Most staph infections occur in people with weak immune systems, usually patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities. MRSA infections in hospitalized patients are known as healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA). People who have been hospitalized or had surgery within the past year are at high risk for HA-MRSA. People receiving certain treatments, such as dialysis, are also at high risk. MRSA bacteria account for a large percentage of hospital-acquired staph infections.
Over the past several years, MRSA infections in people not considered high-risk have increased. These infections, known as community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), occur in otherwise healthy people who have no history of hospitalization in the last year. Many such infections have occurred among athletes who share equipment or personal items (such as towels or razors) and children in daycare facilities.
Symptoms
Staph skin infections normally cause a red, swollen, and painful area on the skin. Other symptoms may include:
A skin abscess
Drainage of pus or other fluids from the site
Fever
Warmth around the infected area
Symptoms of a more serious staph infection may include:
Rash
Shortness of breath
Fever
Chills
Chest pain
Fatigue
Muscle aches
Malaise (general feeling of illness)
Headache
Signs and tests
Depending on the extent and severity of your symptoms, your doctor may recommend the following tests:
A skin biopsy and culture from the infected site
Culture of the drainage (fluid) from the infection, to see which organism grows in it
Blood culture
Sputum culture through coughing or bronchoscopy, if pneumonia is present or suspected
Urine culture if a urinary tract infection is present or suspected
Treatment
Draining the abscess at the doctor's office is usually the only treatment needed for a local skin MRSA infection.
Few antibiotics are available to treat more serious MRSA infections. These include vancomycin (Vancocin, Vancoled), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim, Bactrim DS, Septra, Septra DS), and linezolid (Zyvox).
It is important to finish all doses of antibiotics you have been given, even if you feel better before the final dose. Unfinished doses can lead to development of drug resistance in the bacteria.
Other treatments may be given to for more serious infections. These treatments, given in the hospital, may include supplemental oxygen and intravenous medication. In cases of kidney failure, dialysis may be needed.
Expectations (prognosis)
Outcome varies with the severity of the infection, and the general condition of the person who has the infection. MRSA pneumonia and blood poisoning have high death rates.
Complications
Serious staph infections may include:
Cellulitis
Endocarditis
Toxic shock syndrome
Pneumonia
Blood poisoning
Organ failure and death may result from untreated MRSA infections.
Calling your health care provider
Call your healthcare provider if a wound seems to get worse rather than heal, or if any other symptoms of staph infection are present.
Prevention
Careful attention to personal hygiene is key to avoiding MRSA infections. Wash your hands frequently, especially if visiting someone in a hospital or long-term care facility. Do not share personal items such as towels or razors with another person -- MRSA can be transmitted through contaminated items. Cover all wounds with a clean bandage, and avoid contact with other people’s soiled bandages. If you share sporting equipment, clean it first with antiseptic solution.
check out this link...
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.
You would probably get more responses if you didn't use abbreviations. Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus could just be shortened to a staph infection.
Below is a link to the Mayo Clinic's website addressing this question.
My stepdad had that and he is still in the hospital recovering, so i have some information on it. Symptoms include:
* Redness, warmth, swelling, tenderness of the skin, and boils or blisters.
*Some people may also have fever or chills.
Also even if you came in contact with someone with mrsa, you may just be a carrier of it and never actually get it. Im not sure how long until you show symptoms though, but if you come in contact iwht someone who has it, you should wash your hands alot.
Usually starts off as a rash on the skin at the area of contact. Redness, swelling and feelings of fatigue and fever are also signs of infection. You need to be treated with IV antibiotics to kill the infection. Healthy people can usually fight it off with no problem. It's when you are sick to begin with or just came out of surgery where it is more dangerous since your immune system is more vulnerable to disease.
Well, for starters, coming in contact with an infected person doesn't necessarily mean you'll develop symptoms. If you are carrying the infection...on your skin or sometimes in your nose, but not having any symptoms, then you're considered colonized, and not infected...but you can still spread it. Typically, exposure doesn't cause illness unless the staph bacteria enters your body through an open wound. If you have been exposed, keep an eye out for a small red bump that is on the edge of, or near an open sore...or just one that pops up out of nowhere...it starts to hollow out, like it's burrowing itself into your skin...then an absess forms beneath the surface. It becomes very painful, and then has to be drained, at which time you'll probably be given an IV with an antibiotic called vancomycin. If you know you've been exposed, and you develop these symptoms, don't allow a physician to give you an antibiotic without testing for MRSA. If he does, and it's an antibiotic that it's resistant to, then you'll just get sicker and it can get out of control.
The symptoms of MRSA depend on where you're infected. Most often, it causes mild infections on the skin, causing pimples or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract.
Though most MRSA infections aren't serious, some can be life-threatening. Many public health experts are alarmed by the spread of tough strains of MRSA. Because it's hard to treat, MRSA is sometimes called a "super bug."
MRSA is spread by contact. So you could get MRSA by touching another person who has it on the skin. Or you could get it by touching objects that have the bacteria on them.
Incubation period 4-10 days.
Some people carry MRSA in their nasal canals and are not symptomatic. It depends on whether or not you have any open wounds and how well your immune system is. You have no symptoms or it could take the form of boils or skin rash. I'm not sure how soon.
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