And we thought meningitis was the biggest threat..

Parent Cafe
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<p>The use of antibacterial soaps and cleaning products does not appear to encourage emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, perhaps because the mechanism of action of antibacterial soaps is different than all currently used antibiotics.</p>

<p>See the Emerging Infectious Diseases Report “Antibacterial Cleaning Products and Drug Resistance” at <a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol11no10/04-1276.htm[/url]”>404 - Emerging Infectious Diseases journal;

<p>However, the use of antibacterial soaps does not appear to have any advantage over proper handwashing with ordinary soap and warm water, perhaps since the active ingredient of most antibacterial soaps, triclosan, requires two minutes of contact time to be effective.</p>

<p>See the CDC site “Antimicrobial Resistance in Healthcare Settings” <a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar.html[/url]”>http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar.html&lt;/a&gt; for a complete overview.</p>

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<p>Just skimming this thread and am shocked at how many people just in the small group here on CC have first or second-hand experience with it! It’s something the BBC world news has been covering for many months, but until just recently I hadn’t heard much about it here, other than in hospital cases. Scary.</p>

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<p>I don’t think anyone else has mentioned this, but it you think you have a spider bite-you probably don’t, you probably have MRSA. Get it checked and don’t let them just give you keflex because it is “just a skin infection” (unless they have a culture and sensitivity)
LA</p>

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<p>Yeah, it looks like a bug bite and hurts like heck. My boyfriend went on a Friday to the doctor and they said it looked infected and gave him a prescription. By the next day, it was a lot worse and like I said when we got to the ER she knew right away what it was and prescribed something else and had him take that as well as the other antibiotic until she got the Culture back, at which time she told him to discontinue the original antibiotic because it was resistant against that.</p>

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<p>Back in fifth grade when Mathson did his science experiment on whether it was worth the trouble to wash your hands, he found that the best way to get rid of bacteria was dish detergent. It worked even better than the anti-microbial or regular soap.</p>

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<p>How do most people (those not in healthcare related jobs) end up with these infections? Through wounds?</p>

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<p>lspf - they believe my boyfriend had an ingrown hair on his leg which somehow got infected. Not really sure how that happens but the doctor said that was the most likely scenario. Like someone said before, many people carry it on their skin but it never gets inside… maybe he had it on his skin and the skin at the hair opened slightly and in it went. Who knows. Other than that, contact sports where somebody is carrying it and it goes in through an open wound, shaking someones hand with someone who is carrying it but it wasn’t in their system and touching a wound, etc.</p>

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<p>My brother in law just got over an episode of MRSA on his arm.
It started out looking like a large pimple/boil and progressed rapidly.
He worked in a hospital (Security). Deteriorately quickly but they were able to control it and he is now on the mend.</p>

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<p>Wow. I’d assume a gym might be a place to be careful as well. I guess all cuts, even small ones, should be covered.</p>

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<p>yeah, definitely a gym… people are less clothed there and there could be sweaty bodys are touching everything.</p>

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<p>Gyms and sports clubs are real trouble spots! A few years ago my yD developed a “boil” on her shoulder, and it slowly grew bigger even when treated with Neosporin. I had to send her to see her doctor to finally get something that would work. I questioned her if she’d been in any contact with anyone who had similar infections. Turned out, her friends got similar infections on their backs all at the same time! Through further questioning, I found out that the girls were sneaking into the sauna at our health club, which was supposed to be off-limits to them. Perfect spot for nasty bugs to flourish! I brought this to the club manager’s attention, but did not follow up on the issue, since the girls got better. This time, if something like this happens, I will leave no stone unturned until the locker rooms get cleaned up! MRSA was all over the news tonight, again.</p>

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<p>My brother (in ill health to begin with) died of MRSA this summer after orthopedic surgury. Nasty, nasty disease. I worry for our children in this increasingly antibiotic resistant world.</p>

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<p>Speaking of antibiotic use, I used to routinely be prescribed a heavy antibiotic right before any dental work because of a heart murmur.Now, all of a sudden, that is out and no longer the recommendation. </p>

<p>A relative of mind broke his ankle and had to have a metal plate inserted.When he went for a check up and the covering was off another person came over and chatted with him .Relative asked, “by the way what are you here for” and the person responded they had a nasty infection in the hand, which by the way he had been waving in the air over my relative’s wound. Two weeks later relative came down with a nasty Staph infection in his wound site. </p>

<p>I have another friend who got a Staph infection in the eye, and went blind in that eye, which apparently came about from washing her mother while she was in the hospital.</p>

<p>I work outside quite a bit and do worry about the pathagens in the soil and air.I wonder if any studies have ever been done on rain and it’s capacity or lack of to wash away germs.</p>

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<p>One of the sources of these infections is atheletes not showering after practice. If you will check on the behaviours of your high school athletes, you’ll find that a great many of the kids change from their practice gear into street clothes and go home and shower later, if at all.</p>

<p>Also, the old style astroturf fields produce remarkable abrasions in football and other sports. The “carpet” will not just nick you up; it will remove many square inches of your skin if you slide on it unprotected.</p>

<p>Of course, the incidence is hardly confined to athletes.</p>

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<p>Believe me, anybody can contract CA-MRSA, even the clean, perfectly healthy, and careful! My S has it now, and his doc thinks he probably got it from a mosquito bite on a camping trip. It has been a nightmare, and he is taking very powerful antibiotics, including vancomycin, Cipro, and Bactrim for at least eight weeks. I worry that if he should need antibiotics in the future, nothing will work for him, plus these antibiotics can cause horrible, and I mean horrible, side effects. His doc says there is no choice but to take them. </p>

<p>I read that these super germs can live on a dry, uncleaned surface for up to three months! </p>

<p>Meanwhile, I had to fight my daughter’s middle school in order to allow her to bring in her own colored t-shirt for gym class. (The school uses their own colored shirts, which they keep altogether in a large cardboard box, to mark members of teams for competitive games. My daughter says these shirts often smell of body odor, so it’s pretty certain they are unclean.) </p>

<p>All it takes is one kid with a MRSA lesion to deposit MRSA on one of the shirts, then another with a tiny break in their skin to put on the contaminated shirt, and bingo, the MRSA could be transmitted. Often people who have MRSA lesions do not recognize them for what they are because they can look like a rash, a pimple, or a bug bite. </p>

<p>Also, the school told me they disinfect the mats they use in between each gym class, but obviously, they cannot be disinfecting them while the kids are rolling around on them!</p>

<p>I think a lot of schools are uninformed about MRSA, and it is imperative that they get educated! I think we have only seen the tip of the iceberg that is the MRSA problem. </p>

<p>Everyone, watch out for your kids and yourselves. I know anybody can get this.</p>

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<p>Can you talk to the school nurse or PTA to get them on your side, Limodriverlady? Change can come if you have some other support.</p>

<p>Have you talked to your son’s doctor about your concerns about future antibiotic resistance? I needed to take prophylactic antibiotics daily for about six years. Doctors don’t know all that much about the effects, but infections were very difficult to beat while I was on the daily antibiotic regimen. I’m not really sure what my current status is, but I did develop an infection this summer even while taking antibiotics after dental work. Overall, it hasn’t had a very large effect on me, but I do tell new doctors about possible resistance in case they want to give a higher dose or different type of antibiotic.</p>

<p>My best to your son and your family.</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, there is no PTA at my D’s school, and I had already talked to the school nurse who didn’t seem to know much (or care) about MRSA. I have told all my friends about this and advised them to send in shirts for their kids, etc. Perhaps because it is now in the news so much they might pay attention. </p>

<p>I think there are many unknowns about antibiotic use, and I think a lot of docs don’t really like talking about it. I guess it’s hard for them to say, “I don’t know.”</p>

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<p>This has been a problem at the college level as well as high school. 3 Stanford baseball players over the last 2 seasons have had it; one in particular was pretty scary although all 3 recovered, although one had to miss quite a few games. Fortunately all 3 sought medical attention right away. The general thought was that the bug was on equipment or furniture in the locker room or training facility. We are probably lucky that it only affected 3 players and not more.</p>

<p>Absolutely right about the “spider bite”–that is what the most recent player to contract it (last spring) thought he had, too.</p>

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<p>For the last two years, my county has been making all the high school athletes watch a video about MRSA. I don’t know why just athletes, but we had to go, they took it very seriously. </p>

<p>I’ve gotten a staph infection (not MRSA). I had a blister on the bottom of my foot and I had taped it for gymnastics because it hurt, but the tape wasn’t very secure or really doing anything (apparently). It’s amazing how fast it spreads. I probably got home at 9:30, went to sleep at 11 and was perfectly fine, felt nothing. I woke up in the middle of the night because of the pain, went downstairs to ice it, and by the time I would have left for school, I couldn’t walk. I thought I broke something, although the circumstances were peculiar. Then I noticed the red lines snaking up my leg (which I knew was the infection spreading up the bloodstream, knew of girls who’d gotten infections on their hands. It was at this point everything fell into place and we got to the doctor immediately).</p>

<p>But I can see how it gets to the point of severe problems. It was painful, but I had no idea what the heck it was, so until the redness was very obvious, it was sort of like let’s wait it out. For me, it originated on the bottom of my foot, so I couldn’t walk. This obviously made it a priority. Had it been on my arm or something, I probably would have gone to school that day, and in those few hours it probably would have reached lymph nodes or organs or whatever bad stuff. It seems like it can really be a matter of just hours. I would recommend that if anyone feels they have a staph infection they seek treatment immediately even if it comes down to the ER.</p>

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<p>I have constantly reminded son about the importance of hand-washing now that he is in college. And just as important, changing the bed linens regularly and washing/using clean towels. I do worry about college kids being in such an enclosed environment and using the same bathrooms. I know I must sound like a nagging Mom sometimes, but I have always stressed these things just for the hope that there would not be the usual colds, etc. Now, I can see that it is even more important! Son, btw, cannot take but just a certain group of antibiotics anyway as he is allergic to everything else–we found that out when he was younger! So, I do worry when he gets sick and also know that he simply cannot take much antibiotics. In many cases, he has had to “tough it out”. Hence, the stressing of simple cleanliness on my part!!</p>