Can anybody tell me about mersa (MRSA)?

[Laurel]

My mil has been hospitalized for the past two months and is now being moved to a nursing home. She had a colostomy and a blood clot that burst, and I was aware that she had several internal infections but didn't think much of it. Well, the other day I was told that she has mersa. I started to do some online reading about it and I've become concerned because I had no idea it was a staph infection. My 2-year-old ds has been visiting mil in the hospital several times a week for over a month, and I'm very concered about his exposure to this. Supposedly her infection is in some kind of dormant state? Or it is a colonization but not an infection? I don't believe she had mersa on her skin but it is in her lungs. I just don't understand enough about how the infection works. I am trying to figure out if I need to be worried about my ds possibly contracting this. He doesn't have much physical contact with her when he visits, but he does occasionally hold her hand for a few seconds. Should I restrict him visiting from now on? I first found out about this when dh's siblings were looking for nursing homes and several homes refused to accept her because she has to be kept in isolation. I knew in the hospital that there was a warning on her door about people coming in with coughs or fevers, but I had no idea that *she* herself was being isolated because of the potentional of spreading mersa to other people. I thought the warning on the door was to protect *her* from sick visitors. I am pretty peeved that no one ever said anything to me about this, and I have been bringing my child there regularly! Am I worried about nothing? I have just heard several accounts of children dying of staph infections lately and I"m a little freaked out.

[CallMeIshmael]

If your son is healthy, you really needn't be concerned about MRSA.

Staph aureus is a ubiquituous bug -- we're all covered in it. It is an opportunist, however -- it can cause problems if there's a major cut or break in the skin (it's a common cause of blood infection in folks who have central IV lines). It can also cause lingering infections in people with weakened immune systems, particularly elderly folks. Not sure what's going on with your MIL, but staph can cause any kind of infection: skin, bladder, blood, lungs, etc.

MRSA is methicillin-resistant staph aureus, and it's of major concern in hospitals and nursing homes because it needs to be treated with special IV antibiotics (vancomycin). So when a MRSA infection shows up, the contact isolation precautions usually go into place. If one patient gets it, it's easy for a visitor or health care worker to spread it to another patient. Pretty soon all the patients have it, and that's bad.

I work in a hospital, and MRSA is everywhere. I remember the first time I had to interview a patient with MRSA, and I was very concerned -- until I learned that a big chunk of the population carries the bug, as do the majority of health care workers. And it is absolutely not a problem for us.

So the contact precautions on your MIL are not to protect her -- she's already got it. And they're not to protect you or your son -- you may already have it, and would be absolutely no problem to you if you did. Rather, the precautions are there to protect the other patients to whom you might transfer the bugs.

Let me know if you have more questions about MRSA -- it's something I deal with every day.

[Laurel]

Thanks so much! I had asked my aunt about it (she'd been a nurse for many years) and all she said was that mersa was bad. Ds is generally healthy, though he's had a few mild colds this winter season. He did have something weird last week. A few days before Christmas he had been complaining of mouth pain and had a weird, horrible odor coming and going from his mouth. Two days before Christmas he woke up extremely lethargic, though no fever. I had taken him to the doctor that evening. They thought he had strep but the culture turned out negative and the doctor said it was just a viral bug. The next day he was fine. I didn't worry about this either until finding out about mil's infection.

Thank you for explaining the isolation status in the nursing home. That is what I wasn't understanding. I thought if she was being in isolation why were we bringing a young child in to visit? But now it makes more sense. My sil had her good friend's 8-year-old son die of a staph infection last spring so it's been a little concerning for me. He'd had a seizure disorder but I don't think he'd been "sick" at the time of his death.

Mil I believe has infections in her lungs, blood, and pancreas.

[runes]

So sorry to hear of your sil's friends son passing away from staph infection.

Since you mentioned that he had a seizure disorder, just wanted to mention that if he was on medication for it, that very often the meds have a side effect of depressing the immune system.

I work per diem in hospitals/nursing homes sometimes, and I was always under the impression that as a health care worker, I had to be careful with MRSA patients not for myself, but in the unfortunate event that I would be the one that could possibly transfer it to other immunocompromised patients.

[Electra375]

OT - but staph related

Since the birth of my dd, I have been battling staph. I apparently gave her a staph skin infection at birth from the staph UTI I was unaware I had until 2 weeks PP. Then a few months later I had staph break out on my face, applied home treatment of TTO and used rubbing alcohol to kill the infection.

I think I am again dealing with staph, but I'm not sure and it being a holiday weekend was not able to get into see anyone. I have an appt tomorrow, but really all they are going to see now is the gum problem and refer me to a dentist -- who would notice that it is a problem not related to peridontal disease.

I spent Christmas at my mother's house of mold, I developed a sore throat by Mon and then Wed evening I had a pustule form on the ridge line of my palate! By thursday morning I could feel more swollen areas in my mouth palate and gums. And it isn't getting better, if anything it's worse, I have red, swollen, painful and bleeding gums.

I think the house of mold weakened my immune system, just too much for it to handle and then staph invaded.

So, for your dc sore mouth, yes it is possible for it to have been a staph issue. And if he wasn't eating much, believe me, he couldn't.

[Laurel]

I really appreciate all the perspectives here--my fears are eased.

When I looked in ds's mouth, I could never find anything--no cavities, no redness in throat or gums, etc. He was indicating that it was the jaw/teeth that hurt--he kept pressing his fingers against his teeth. I was thinking along the lines of something dental and was planning to take him to the dentist after Christmas, but when he woke up so sick that day I decided on a doctor instead. Once the virus cleared up, he hasn't had any problems with his mouth, so I think whatever it was, it was related to the virus. He was eating fine, but if I washed his face or somehow pressed against his mouth, he would cry. One day he had been inconsolable for over an hour because of the pain in his mouth.