<p>I would like to talk with other parents with a child who has had a MRSA infection while at college. Thanks to any who respond</p>
<p>My son’s roommate had a very bad one. Apparently contracted after surgery at home outside US before returning to college in the fall. It blew up at the college. He will be ok (i.e. he’ll live, keep his hand, may or may not require more surgery to return full function) … but it was pretty scary.</p>
<p>My daughter is sick with a CA MRSA infection diagnosised this week. Fortunately, she/we responded rapidly to the infected spot and we appear to have containded the infection to the skin. What is interesting is that just a week before returning to college from Christmas break, she had her wisdom teeth extracted and was placed on antibiotics and now 2 weeks later, we are struggling with this medical issue . I have to believe there is some connection, as she isn’t a contact athlete.</p>
<p>When I first received the call that they suspected MRSA, my mind was filled with all the images and extreme fears the media promotes. I now realize that college campuses are dealing with this infection constantly. Most campus health centers and nearby hospitals are quite “tuned” into diagnosising this problem, better than our own pediatrican who rarely see it. It is important that students know that all sore spots can not be assumed to be pimples! We are feeling very fortunate today although she is still quite sore and uncomfortable and will require medical support and antibiotics for some time now.</p>
<p>My D had a MRSA infection last spring. It apparently entered from a popped blister. Luckily the school nurse saw the blister and told us to take her to the doctor. There is a good oral antibiotic that has just been approved for MRSA and it worked well on my D, she had to have several inches of skin removed but other than that the she did very well and has no signs of the infection–other than some scarring from where the skin was removed.</p>
<p>Do you recall the antibiotic and how long was she on it?</p>
<p>I am glad your d will be okay, and that the colleges are tuned into this. My husband was hospitalized with a MRSA infection, and it was really scary. He still does not know how he got it.</p>
<p>Oh it still is very scary . . . . </p>
<p>but I wrote on this forum because knowledge is power and the more I/we all can learn the better. It is a very real problem and challenge on college campuses.</p>
<p>Likewise, there isn’t a clear answer to how my daughter became infected. I hope your husband is dioing well now NorthEastMom2</p>
<p>Believe it or not, some doctors believe that there is a coorelation between our mouth and the rest of the body. Some doctors will not do any oral surgeries if there is an inflammation spot on other part of the body - even in your joints.</p>
<p>[MRSA</a> infection - MayoClinic.com](<a href=“http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mrsa/DS00735]MRSA”>MRSA infection - Symptoms & causes - Mayo Clinic) </p>
<p>[MedlinePlus</a> Medical Encyclopedia: MRSA infection](<a href=“http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007261.htm]MedlinePlus”>Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA): MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia) </p>
<p>[CA-MRSA:</a> Public FAQs | CDC Infection Control in Healthcare](<a href=“http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html]CA-MRSA:”>http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html)</p>
<p>In my yoga class (communal mats) a woman came in the other day; she had been out for a month or so. The teacher welcomed her back. The woman pulled up her pants leg and showed us all her STILL HEALING staph infection on her lower leg. Then she grabbed a mat, and set out to exercising. Afterwards, threw her mat in the pile without cleaning it. I have always taken my own mat/towel to the gym. I encourage my chicks, and all of you to do so also, and clean off any equipment both BEFORE and after use. I don’t think she had MRSA but YUCK.</p>
<p>Not at college, but I encountered a client who wanted health insurance for her 26-yo son who got MRSA from scratching the inside of his nose. Within a few hours his face was severely swollen. They rushed him to the hospital and they did surgery. 1 day in the hospital, he almost died, bill $11k. (That’s why she now wanted health insurance for him.)</p>
<p>Scary stuff.</p>
<p>Don’t remember the exact percentage, but I think around 10% of people are carriers of MRSA and guess where? IN THE NOSE. I guess yet another reason to keep our kids fingers out of their noses. Some hospitals are now swabbing all admitted patients nostrils to identify MRSA carriers, so they can better fight/isolate the infection.</p>
<p>Just a brief primer on MRSA. </p>
<p>First, staph aureus is a bacteria that commonly lives on our skin. 20-30% of us have staph as part of our NORMAL bacterial flora. It commonly lives in our nose, armpits, and groin. It can live anywhere on our skin. It normally causes no problems. But, if we get a opening in the skin via a cut, a bug bite, a scrape, or a surgical incision, it can enter and cause an infection. Common staph infections are skin infections, such as pimples, impetigo, boils, cellulitis, folliculitis, furuncles, carbuncles. Sometimes the infection worsens and leads to an abscessm or to other life-threatening diseases, such as pneumonia (lung), meningitis (brain/spinal coverings), osteomyelitis (bone), endocarditis (heart valve), Toxic shock syndrome (TSS), and septicemia (blood infection.) Staph has been around for centuries.</p>
<p>Staph aureus (SA) is treated with antibiotics. SA produces an enzyme that inactivates penicillin, known as a penicillinase. That was overcome for decades by using penicillinase-resistant penicillins such as methicillin, oxacillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin. Methacillin was the first one. SA then evolved to become methacillin resistant. This is MRSA–Methacillin resistant Staph Aureus. </p>
<p>In the 1990’s, MRSA became a problem in hospitals. Hospitalized patients were more likely to be on antibiotics, and their SA would become MR. However, with the advent of antibacterial soaps, detergents, lotions, dish-soaps, etc, many of us now have SA on our skin that is MA. So that it is more and more common for one to have a commmunity acquired (CA) methacillin resistant staph aureus infection. Hence the term CA-MRSA. Usually, one who has a CA-MRSA did not “catch” MRSA from someone, they had the bacteria all along living on their skin, or in their nasal passages. Then, a surgical procedure, a cut, a pimple a bug bite occurs, and if stress or an illness has lowered one’s resistance, suddenly the staph gets in, takes hold, and one has a CA-MRSA infection. Once one has this type of staph as their bacteria flora, it is just there. It is a part of your flora. All the products or purifiers won’t change it. Now, kids in close quarters can have an infection and then spread the bacteria, where it can get in a cut, etc. Contact sports can be a problem as there is not just contact, but contact that results in breaks in the skin. Gyms and locker rooms are hot and humid, and MRSA can live for a short time on surfaces, but wiping down equipment can be very effective.</p>
<p>So, avoid OVERdoing the antibacterial products, actually. But if you use/share work-out equipment, wipe it down before and after use. If you get a cut that starts to look infected, get it checked right away. Most community acquired MRSA is still very sensitive to sulfa, clindamycin, and others. If you are having elective surgery, you can have a nasal swap to see if you might be a carrier, and there are some things you can to to temporarily mitigate your risk. But CA-MRSA is often a staph germ you had on your skin the whole time, it just suddenly got “in” and decided to be a problem.</p>
<p>S is an intercollegiate athlete and contracted it from skin-to-skin contact during one of his early season football games this past fall. He had a scab that had been taped by the trainer, but the MRSA boil developed in that area anyway. The boil was immediately treated by the team physician and S was prescribed oral antibiotics. Despite early detection, the staph became systemic less than 24 hours later. He was hospitalized for three days while treated with powerful IV Vancomycin. Very serious and scary.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida, do hospitals test all patients for MRSA now? I ask, because I have seen signs outside a lot of hospital rooms about this, at least I think it is for MRSA. I visited a patient and was told to stop at the nurse’s station. If I remember correctly I was instructed to use their antibacterial cleanser before leaving the room. BTW, the patient was not hospitalized for MRSA, but a problem having to do with dialysis (risk factor, btw for MRSA). They seemed to also pair roommates with other MRSA positive patients from what I could tell.</p>
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<p>That’s fairly standard practice.</p>
<p>Are they testing every hospital patient for this now? The sign outside the room looked so alarming, and then I noticed that a good amount of rooms had this sign outside the door.</p>
<p>The testing varies from hospital to hospital. As one of the links I posted first of all noted, one can have a positive culture test for MRSA bacteria without having an active MRSA infection. I know people who have had diagnosed infections and recovered just fine, but while they were recovering they were in rooms with other patients who had had positive MRSA cultures.</p>
<p>My S was diagnosed with a MRSA when he went in for a routine dermatologist visit for acne. He had one larger pimple that had been there awhile. She cultured it, and it was MRSA. She prescribed an ointment to put on the pimple, in his nostrils and “all body folds”. That was it…no follow up, no nothin’.</p>
<p>After seeing so many scary news reports a few months later, I scheduled another appointment to ask her why we weren’t following up on this more. She told me she sees several cases a day, and that it’s everywhere. As was previously noted on this thread, she said that many, many people carry it, and it’s only a problem if the staph on your body cause an infection.</p>
<p>This is a parent’s worst nightmare:</p>
<p>[WWU</a> student dies from MRSA | Top Stories | KING5.com | News for Seattle, Washington](<a href=“http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_022108WAB_wwu_mrsa_death_TP.15c8de4c.html]WWU”>http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_022108WAB_wwu_mrsa_death_TP.15c8de4c.html)</p>
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