Mrsa

My daughter has also been infected. In fact she had it 5 times in a year! Luckily only once did we have to get in drained. What a horrible experience that was - it was behind her neck, and she was 9 months or so she had to be held down.

We saw a specialist at CHOP in KOP who recommended like others have said to bathe with 1/2 cup bleach to 12 inches of bath water once a week. He also recommended using bleach (I use clorox 2) in every load of washing. We also 'pounce' on anything that may look suspicious with bactraban. If you use that quickly enough it can often take care of the problem w/out it becoming more serious.

Using these methods we've been good for over a year - although I hope I'm not jinxing myself with saying this.

good luck

Hi D.,
As someone else said, the MRSA bacteria does grow in people's noses and it can even be someone else in your family that has it with out symptoms, but is passing it on to your daughter. Since she has had recurrent episodes, you may want to have her nose, as well as your's and anyone else's in the house cultured to make sure you treat the source. Good Luck!

D.,
Having dealt with this first-hand, I understand how scarey it is. My son was diagnosed w/ staph infections in his diaper area back in July and it's been an issue ever since. Thankfully, we've been able to keep them under control with natural products (and thankfully, we didn't circumcise him at birth b/c the things that could've happened are too terrifying to think about!!!).

First of all--were the wounds cultured to test specifically for MRSA or did your doctor just look at them & say that's what it was? Unless it's cultured and comes back positive, it's probably just a staph infection. Everyone has staph on their skin, some people are just, for whatever reason, more prone to getting infections from it than others.

Our doctor (Dr. Lisa Caso in Easton--fabulous pediatrician!!!) prescribed Altabex ointment (a VERY expensive antibiotic) which worked ok. However, some one had suggested that we try Manuka Honey (which you get from a health food store) & that has worked miracles!!!!!!!!!

The Manuka Honey is a theraputic honey & it IS a lot more expensive than your standard honey but it's worth every cent!!!!

You just take a q-tip & smear some honey on the sores at every diaper change. The honey cleared things up pretty quickly. And we've used nothing but that on him when ever he starts to get one & 9 times out of 10, if we apply it as soon as we see the signs of another boil starting, it gets nipped in the bud & never becomes a problem!

In addition to the honey, if he gets or is starting to get an infection, we use Colloidal Silver spray (also from the health food store) and another herbal spray (if you messege me I can get the name of it for you) that we got from our doctor that is specifically formulated to help your body fight Staph & MRSA! We also use a powdered Probiotic made for infants to keep the healthy bacteria levels in his body up.

Just know that there ARE lots of things that you can do to help your daughter's body fight this bacteria naturally without compromising her immune system or building up her resistance to antibiotics (which, don't get me wrong, have their purpose! I just think that you need to reserve them for when they're REALLY needed so that you don't end up w/ anitbiotic resistance, since MRSA IS antibiotic resistant!).

Also, if you're breastfeeding, or have access to a friends breastmilk, you can apply breastmilk right to the sores. Since breastmilk is largely made up of white cells, it kills the bacteria.

Good luck & again, feel free to messege me for more info!
A.

D.~ Sorry to hear your daughter has MRSA. First off your daughter if ever in the hosptial you need to make staff aware that she has a history of MRSA or if in her case now is active. It will always be a part of her history. She needs to be on good antibiotics. I also had MRSA in my foot from working in the hospital.This was a disease that was once a hospital aquired disease. Meaning you could only catch it from being in the hospital. Now it is wide spread. Yes you can be exposed and a carrier that they may find in taking nasel swab test/ I know in our ICU admissions and discharges they take the test. Some people are positive only in their nares.Patients that have a history of MRSA need to be in separate rooms when admitted to the hospital and the physican need to be aware especially if they are having surgery.. They can go in a room with a history of but not active. It is confusion. You should see an infectional disease doctor. They usually treat MRSA cases. If your ped did not request for you to see one then I would ask for one. They usually give the "round if antibiotics" and that is it. But if you have recurrent episodes of them then it is not being treated properly. (or that antibiotic is not working) There are only a set few antibiotics that work on MRSA. If I can find anything else out for you let me know. Reaading on the internet is scarey.. You should get your info from the doctor. I work with adults not kids but I cannot imagine that the treatment would be different. Good luck

I am sorry you are going thru this. My daughter has had mrsa 4 time. I hate to be the bearer of bad news once you have it it is hard to get out of your system. She had a breakout before she had her tonsils taken out. They had to quarentine her. They said this would happen until she tested mrsa negative three times. I am not sure how long this will take her first break out was two years ago and we just had one 3 months ago. The doctor told me to keep her fingernails short clean them every night. I never got an offical reason as to why they break out. My other daughter who is only a year old has never had a breakout. Not sure how contagious it is. Wish I had more info for you. Good Luck

My daughter was exposed at a children's hospital and had 2 episodes. We were sent to a dermatoligist that recommended bleach baths. Twice a week we put a 1/2 cup to a full cup of bleach in her bath. She will play for about 5 minutes and then we rinse her off. She likes how the bleach make bubbles. I even buy the "earth friendly" gentle version. Initially I was worried about UTI's or effects of the bleach, but we have been good for over 2 years. I use cetaphil lotion after her baths and cetaphil cleanser so her skin is not dried out. Ask you Dr. or consult with a dermatologist. I also have medications I can put on in case there is an area of interest, but this far have not had to use them. Best of luck!

hi, my son has had 3 breakouts with mrsa. his peditrician cultured it and it came back as mrsa (2nd time i took him to the er). they told me that it lives in your nose. his peditrician gave him an antibiotic & antibiotic cream and told us to stick some in his nose when he gets the breakouts.(weird i know) .. also to use antibacterial soap 3 tims a day and wash him thoughly (lever 2000, dial or phisoderm) and use the same kind of soap when i wash my hands.. cover the infected area w/ bandages & his cream and WASH DOWN ALL HIS TOYS W/ BLEACH. i took all the small toys and threw them in the tub w/ bleach and water and let them soak (i'd mix them around a few times also) .. and with the bigger toys that couldnt be put in the tub i spayed them down w/ lysol anywhere spray and washed that off w/ hot water.
my son hasnt had a breakout in a couple of months (knock wood) but i still once every so oftem use the antibacterial soap on him.
i wish you luck becuase it's not fun knowing your little one has this nasty bacterial infection and theres not much you can do. MAKE SURE SHE FINISHES ALL THE MEDS GIVEN BY THE DR. if you have any other questions feel free to email me back.

D. - I would watch this closely. Last year my nephew became quite ill with MRSA. It was misdiagnosed and then he ended up in Children's Hospital of Philadelphia - twice and was quite ill. He ended up having to have his abscess drained and had to receive his antibiotic via a drip because that level of antibiotic is not available over the counter.. If your doctor is not offering any advice I would suggest finding a new pediatrician. - Best of luck.

hand washing. skip the hand sanitizer. stuff will grow in it and become more resistant. soap, water, bubbles take it all down the drain.

it's resistant and will probably reoccur. don't become obsessive over cleaning until your hands are raw. but do keep the wounds covered, if she takes a bath, disinfect the tub afterward, wash her clothes separate from yours. simple things.

finish the antibiotic.
ask questions:
what's next if this doesn't go away?
will there be another culture to see if this is gone?
etc.

the R sands for resistant. be patient and informed.

MRSA isn't as uncommon as the press has made it sound, but it is still a very dangerous type of infection because it is resistant to certain antibiotics. Keep the area clean, wash hands REGULARLY and often, especially before eating, and especially after touching the site. Wash YOURS, often, too.

And call the office, talk to the nurse, and ask your questions. Get some good advice. If you can't get it from the office you use now, find a pediatrician who will take the time to talk to you. Or just use a family doctor, but definately find one who will help you to be a better informed care giver. You need to know how to prevent it, how to prevent it from spreading, when the antibiotics should begin to work, how you will know that they are working, and how soon to call back if you don't see those good results. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS. And don't let them blow you off because you are young. It can be very frustrating dealing with the medical community, but you have to keep asking your questions until you get answers that make sense to you.

I'm a hospital pharmacist, so I know a litle about MRSA. First, you should find another doctor. If you asked questions and got no answers, he's not the one for you. Second, did they do cultures to determine if it actually is MRSA? My concern is that if they didn't culture the abscesses, they don't know for sure, and could be treating her incorrectly, which is how MRSA came about in the first place. MRSA stands for "Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus", which came about when docs over-prescribed certain antibiotics for staph. The staph became smart and started finding ways to protect itself. It's happening with a lot of bacteria because docs are over-prescribing antibiotics. So please, get a second opinion and make sure the sores are cultured to get a definite diagnosis so that the right antibiotic can be used. If she has had this twice, chances are they didn't treat it right the first time. MRSA is more common in hospital settings, although there are chances of getting it outside the hospital. But that's why the correct diagnosis is so important. Now there are powerful drugs that used to work on MRSA that are now becoming less effective because of overuse or misuse. Please go see another doctor immediately so that no matter what it is, it doesn't become more serious. Good luck.

Sorry to hear about your daughter. I was in the same situation about a year ago. I have two boys that have had MRSA and my doctor did the same thing (antibiotic and nothing else). One thing I did was to give them a bath every night washing the area very well. I also put a drawing sauve on the area with a band-aid to draw the infection out and I washed their bedding on a daily basis. I ended up getting MRSA from them and my doctor sent me to a disease control doctor who advised me to make sure to wash the tub with bleach each time a bath was given and to not wear clothes more than once while having an outbreak. She also recommended keeping the area covered so it did not spread as easily. If you have any questions please e-mail me at ____@____.com. I will give you as much support and advice as I can. I know this is a scary time for you but rest assured I used the techniques above for my children and myself and we have not had an outbreak of MRSA in our house in 8 months. Good luck.

I assume the doctor did a culture and it was positive. I believe when they send the culture to the lab they typically grow it to see what drugs it is resistant to. Based on those findings they will prescribe an antibiotic that it is not resistant to, typically Bactrim/Septra. That will clear it up as long as you finish all of the medication. Just keep the infection covered (clothing is sufficient) to minimize the chance of spreading it to others.

Hope that answers your questions.