<p>The student died of staph pneumonia, a fulminating illness much like strep pneumonia (which Jim Henson/muppets creator died from.) He likely carried the MRSA bacteria in his nasal passages, become weakened after the flu/viral illness, and suddenly had had staph pneumonia.<br>
</p>
<p>He likely didn’t “pick it up.”</p>
<p>I saw that Bunsen
scary
I am glad that D still needs to get a sports physical for spring- I am going to have her checked out after she gets back from Ghana ( not that I think she has MRSA- but just cause sometimes things don’t show up for a while)</p>
<p>Ive had staph before- hard to get rid of- I think it helps to keep skin wellhydrated- by drinking lots of water and using protective lotion. ( not with petroleum)</p>
<p>I have not been keeping up this this thread since Sunday (2/17) as things got complicated for my daughter and her MRSA infection. She ended up rushed to the ER for a set of symptoms that included disorientation, extreme dizzyness, pounding heart, fever and chilles etc. MY husband rushed to her (I had two sick kids at home) and worked with the hospital and the University Health Center to understand her situation</p>
<p>Ok… my story, my daughter’s story, is now progressing in a positive direction, however I have learned SO much over the past days about having a sick child at college. Sunnyflorida did an excellent job of giving an overview of MRSA and CA- MRSA. It will remain a mystery how my daughter got a MRSA infection/abcess/cellutitis right below her bra line, but I will always believe that antibiotics routinely administered for her wisdom teeth extraction a little over two weeks before played a role.</p>
<p>What I can offer to this discussion now is the challenges of coordinating the health care of sick 18 year old away at college and being seen by many people.</p>
<p>My daughter ended up in the hospital with a drug reaction/toxicity to the two additional antibiotics that the extended emergency care put her on when she was unable to be seen by the University Health Care during the day last Friday. Fridays are very busy days at University Health Centers, we came to learn. From there things spiraled out of control, on Sunday, the ER just added another med to overcome the vertigo, which was probably caused by a reaction to the new antibiotic which ER wasn’t willing to take her off. At this point they had her on 5 medicines. Without a personal Dr. following her care, everyone threw their ideas and treatment on her causing increasing complications. (Unfortunately, it makes me think of the actor, Heath Ledger’s, tragic death a few weeks ago)</p>
<p>My husband and I are now struggling with the what the best solution for giving a child consistant care while at college might be. We have now established her as a patient with a local Dr in the town and have spoken extensively with the Director of the Health Center who personally sees my daughter each day now. Consistancy is important with a health care concern and University Health care systems which process students all day long can become dangerous in cases like my daughter’s. I will say ultimately that the very best and most up to date information on the CA-MRSA came from the University Health Care Center because they are forced to become very knowledgeable about this infection given their environment is prime for such infections. </p>
<p>I now believe, it is a good idea to talk over with your college student an emergency health scenario. While my daughter’s communication with us was very good throughout, our ability to communicate with the health care was difficult and this is where communication needs to improve. Do others have experience to share? Also, it is important to have college kids sign Health Care Proxys</p>
<p>I’ll jump in for Sunny, I’m deep into researching whether or not to begin testing for MRSA infection on admission at our hospital.</p>
<p>There is some pretty good evidence that aggressive testing, isolation, and treatment (showers with antibacterial soaps and topical, not internal antibiotics) can clear MRSA colonization, reduce transmission and infection, and possibly, over time, reduce prevalence. This is a rapidly changing situation, however, as CA-MRSA becomes more widespread, it will become harder to be certain that it is eradicated. When a person goes through the regimen of the showers and ointments and clears the MRSA, it is not known how long they remain clear, but as Sunny points out, since you can live with it in your nose quite happily, then the important time to prevent a serious infection is while the person is hospitalized or having surgery, etc. It is also unclear who of all the people admitted to the hospital, is most at risk, and most in need of testing. As I will say, logistically, it will take awhile for a hospital to ramp up and test large numbers of patients - we are considering testing everyone, and that is a large and expensive undertaking.</p>
<p>From my research, I think that it is only a matter of time until all hospitals test persons on admission for MRSA, then isolate them and try to clear the colonization. It is not happening immediately because it is a complicated process - there are at least 3 different ways to test patients, which one should a particular hospital invest in? How to retrain the staff? Where to get the isolation beds? How to educate, but not terrify the patients and families? After all, the person may be recolonized with MRSA as soon as they get out of the hospital? Should any staff be tested? On and on.</p>
<p>Finally, there is only limited evidence that the testing, cleaning and isolation works - handwashing, room cleaning, and other measures are also important. What is the best regimen? Do people need to “fumigate” their homes, or is it better to only treat colonized persons when they become at higher risk for invasive disease, ie, when they come to the hospital? What to tell coaches and athletic trainers?</p>
<p>My daughter was advised to clean everything in her room in hot water and a dryer. Fortunately, she doesn’t have a roommate (not sure I would want my child in the same room with her) </p>
<p>But she was also told not to treat her nose because this type of colonization is most common in hospital settings. They also want her off antibiotics as soon as possible.</p>
<p>Since back in those Feb. days when I first wrote, life has been one bumpy road.</p>
<p>I am just returning from seeing my D after her third CA-MRSA infection ! This is TOUGH stuff. Her semester has been on big CA-MRSA fight.</p>
<p>Last Friday she was taken to the ER for yet another skin boil, known to be MRSA and being treated, that was growing rapidly.</p>
<p>We have known since March that she is colonized in her nose. Once you have this bug, it is sneaky! After she ends an antibiotic round, the bugs emerges from hiding about 1- 2 weeks later.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry to hear that your daughter is not having an easy time.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to educate and warn us.</p>
<p>I want to add that the infections that my daughter is getting are not appearing at sites where she has had a cut. The infection is appearing on skin that has no apparent wound. She is also not a member of a sports team. She is just a college student going about her typical business of studying. </p>
<p>Be sure that your kids know that ANY spot that suddenly appears similar to a pimple on any part of the body and very quickly (within a day) becomes red, swollen and sore MUST be looked at by health care ASAP. I now know that University health care systems can be a real pain for kids to work into their daily schedule but this is important.</p>
<p>Yes, thank you for updating/warning us. Your recent posts pushed me off center and I called my son last night to ask about a health issue we had discussed earlier in the term. Not MRSA at this point, but the potential is there for complications. He will be headed to the campus health center this week. </p>
<p>Hope this resolves in a positive way and soon for your daughter.</p>
<p>Bringing this back up. I have a couple of questions. My D was hospitalized last March. She had some open cuts on her arm. She ended up with a huge hole 1 1/2 inch diameter in her upper arm filled with pus. She tested positive for Staph but not MRSA. She was on antibiotics orally and a showered with a special soap. It is now almost 9 months later and the area is still raised. She said it hurts if she presses on it or scratches the area. She asked me if I think she needed to get it drained.
She has since moved and is not able to see the same Dr. She presently does not have a Dr in her new location. She is home for a few days but I doubt I could get her into a Dr before she leaves. She might be able to see her old pediatrician but I doubt she wants to walk in there as a 21 yr old.
How long does it take for such a wound to heal. I know she will always have a scar.</p>
<p>sunnyflorida - </p>
<p>Thanks for the concise and excellent explanation.</p>
<p>mom60, sorry to hear your D is going through this. Staph is nasty, nasty, nasty. Thank goodness it was not drug-resistant! It will take a while for a wound like that to heal. My doctor suggested using vitamin E on the skin and give Mederma a shot. It takes a while for deep wounds to heal. When I was a kid, I fell on broken glass and took a chunk of flesh out of my knee. Of course, I was terrified that my parents would kill me for climbing trees, so I never showed the wound to them and took care of it by myself. It got infected and God only knows how I did not end up with an amputated leg! That was almost 40 years ago. I still have a faint scar on that knee.</p>
<hr>
<p>Our local paper run a bunch of stories about hospitals sweeping the MRSA problem under the rug:
[Culture</a> of Resistance| Seattle Times Newspaper](<a href=“http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mrsa/]Culture”>http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mrsa/)
It was shocking to read. Today the paper reported that a new bill was introduced in WA that would require hostpitals to test certain patients for MRSA and report the infection rates, all due to the Times’ report. This is journalism in action!</p>
<p>Dear mom60,
So sorry to hear about your daughter. My son had the “spiderbite” that wasn’t it was MRSA a few years ago. His pediatrician would see former patients for emergency type things and thankfully tested for the MRSA. Septra was sufficient for his infection </p>
<p>Why not call her pediatrician and see if the office will check her out.
Good luck</p>
<p>Son does have a tiny indentation where the MRSA was.</p>
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</p>
<p>From the sounds of it, the pus is still there and it’s not going to just go away. Now it’s just “sterilized” pus. Yes I would say she needs to get it drained.</p>
<p>My son’s pediatrician looked at a wound my son currently has. He did not like the look of it so he had his nurse call for an immediate appointment with a dermatologist. I wonder, mom60, if your D’s old pediatrician could also do that. Perhaps you could even call and explain the situation for a quick appointment. That’s what I did, but bc of holidays I could only get an appt. for early next week. I felt that I could no longer wait without being seen, so my son’s pediatrician saw him last Friday. We got into a dermatologist’s office yesterday. I was also told that if you have any reservation and cannot get into a dermatologist, you should go to the ER and insist on a dermatology consultation. Taking that step was not necessary for us.</p>
<p>mom60, if the wound is still “watery”, it needs to be seen by a doctor. My Vit E and Mederma comments were for scars.</p>
<p>If your D’s pediatrician is able to see her, that’s great. Trust me, your D will have no problem walking into his office! Mine did not when she was really ill and was glad she went there.</p>
<p>For anyone who is interested in the MRSA issue, the series from the Seattle Times mentioned in post 32 is fascinating and downright shocking reading. You will learn a lot if you read the three articles. If you or anyone in your family is having surgery you should read them.</p>
<p>The first half of this year was a scary struggle for us with 4 different CA MRSA infections Feb, March, April and May for my daughter. The various sites of her infections are still VERY noticeable, but they are not raised as you mentioned on your daughter. They also seem to be very sensitive to sunlight and pain.</p>
<p>Personally, given what we went through, I don’t think you can be too confident with any suspicious skin infection. I would prefer to error on the side of caution. The speed that my daughter’s infection spread in one day was extremely alarming. While the skin infections became nasty, she was able to keep them from spreading systemically because she acted quickly. In her case, the PAIN that the surrounded the area was cause enough to be seen by Dr.</p>
<p>Ultimately, we ended up with Infectious Disease specialists at our local Medical School only to learn that in our state (NY) CA-MRSA (also called ORSA) was on a dramatic rise. We learned that the bacteria seem to cycle through areas and have different antibiotic suscpetibilities depending on where you live. </p>
<p>It is important that college students know about this new health threat and act quickly if they have a concern.</p>
<p>Jelomom,
Thanks for update on your daughter.</p>
<p>The pediatrician is out of town. I am not sure what I will have her do. Possibly have her see someone in her location when she returns.
She was across the country when she had her infection. I did not see it at the time. She said I was lucky I did not. There is some confusion if it was MRSA. I seem to remember at the time it was not but she thinks it was. I thought she had two locations but she said she had more. Just two got large. The one on the arm got to be the size of a golf ball and was smelly and painful. She also had one on her forehead that was bad but has healed nicely. The one’s on her legs did not progress much beyond the pimple stage. She said she feels it is getting better. Not as painful or large. I would not say it was wet. It looks like a raised scar but it is slightly soft to the touch. I can not tell if there is fluid underneath.
She saw a Dr for them for about 2 months. Since that time she had not had any new locations. She said they did tell her to watch for pimple like lesions. And one of the nurses told her she could never give blood.
I realize now how poorly informed we are.
What are if any the long term consequences of Staph?</p>