MRSA

What effects are you seeing? I had some nasty cellulitis about 2 years ago from the stuff (which definitely impacted my daily life.) After that was gone, and I recovered from my allergic reaction to the sulfa drugs, I haven't had any sort of symptoms, even though it may well be lingering in my nostrils.

i get the flair up on the edges of my nostrils to the point where its painful to the touch, but only slightly red and swollen, and they usually last about 2-3 days.

I had cellulitis and an abcess that had to be drained on my left quad, which is when i was diagnosed back in mid june (got vancomycin IV) I just got another one on my hip but i went in early and got antibiotics.

So its been over 3 months and i'm just wondering how much longer i'm gonna deal with these effects

You're part of a large epidemic of this going across the country- started in the late 90's, now about 60-75% of anyone who shows up at an ER with pus that can be drained and cultured ends up growing MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus). You're in high profile company as well- the St Louis Rams had an outbreak several years ago that got written up in the New England Journal of Medicine. Other high risk groups to get this are people in hospitals (the traditional place you used to find MRSA, prior to the late 90's when it made the jump into the community), inmates, wrestlers, native americans, and anyone who has lots of close physical contact with other people on a regular basis.

Many more people carry it unknowingly, and never have any flares. Your abscess is the typical presentation these days- needs to be drained, sometimes that's all it takes, sometimes you need antibiotics (interestingly, often drugs that the bug is resistan to work anyways, as long as there is adequate drainage).

The big kicker- how to get rid of it. You're now what's called a chronic carrier, and in the hospital you would be isolated or cohorted with others that carry this (and theres lots of people like you). The studies on eradicating it are not impressive- usually they involve a combination of mupirocin ointment to the nose (the primary reservoir) + chlorhexidine body washes + oral antibiotics- the best results seem to have been with a combination of rifampin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, but even there we're talking just over 50%, so basically a coin flip. Or you just deal with it, practice very good hygiene (shirts worn once, then washed; at least a shower a day; no sharing towels, etc), and hope eventually some other bacteria crowds it out and gets rid of it for you. And as much as it seems to suck, what you have is relatively mild- there's people who have had this spread all over- spine, prostate, heart valves- it can be nasty. Good luck. Ask your doctor to refer you to infectious disease specialist if this is all news to him/her.

You're part of a large epidemic of this going across the country- started in the late 90's, now about 60-75% of anyone who shows up at an ER with pus that can be drained and cultured ends up growing MRSA (methicillin resistant staph aureus). You're in high profile company as well- the St Louis Rams had an outbreak several years ago that got written up in the New England Journal of Medicine. Other high risk groups to get this are people in hospitals (the traditional place you used to find MRSA, prior to the late 90's when it made the jump into the community), inmates, wrestlers, native americans, and anyone who has lots of close physical contact with other people on a regular basis.

Many more people carry it unknowingly, and never have any flares. Your abscess is the typical presentation these days- needs to be drained, sometimes that's all it takes, sometimes you need antibiotics (interestingly, often drugs that the bug is resistan to work anyways, as long as there is adequate drainage).

The big kicker- how to get rid of it. You're now what's called a chronic carrier, and in the hospital you would be isolated or cohorted with others that carry this (and theres lots of people like you). The studies on eradicating it are not impressive- usually they involve a combination of mupirocin ointment to the nose (the primary reservoir) + chlorhexidine body washes + oral antibiotics- the best results seem to have been with a combination of rifampin and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, but even there we're talking just over 50%, so basically a coin flip. Or you just deal with it, practice very good hygiene (shirts worn once, then washed; at least a shower a day; no sharing towels, etc), and hope eventually some other bacteria crowds it out and gets rid of it for you. And as much as it seems to suck, what you have is relatively mild- there's people who have had this spread all over- spine, prostate, heart valves- it can be nasty. Good luck. Ask your doctor to refer you to infectious disease specialist if this is all news to him/her.

oops, sorry for the double post- everything froze for five minutes and I clicked a few too many times...

creole williams wrote:

anyone ever have MRSA ? i have it now and while it doesnt really affect my day to day life, its still a pain to deal with. How long did it take you to get over it? I'm going on 3 months now

You gotta live down a dirt road and make homemade wine like nobody I know.

...does that mean?