Mrsa

I read your request and my heart started beating fast... YES I have experienced MRSA with my son, have done a ton of research and unfortunately know why too much, too much to even write in an email.
We have been MRSA free for a few years now. My son contracted it at 15 mnths old (now 5). It started as a red dot in his groin and the night mare began there. You are very lucky it started expressing on its own, very lucky. The full story is way too long to even make a dent here in an email.
Yes MRSA is very dangerous but do not rely on the local news for your information. As with school closings and being deadly. The Center for Disease Control and school boards are sending mixed signals.
Please feel free to PM me and we could even talk over the phone. I am always happy to help others about this.
I will say, we are bandaid and polysporn freaks with any cuts or scraps. Washing hands are very important and becoming educated.
You will now need to be viligent with scraps, become educated and see if your family is colonized or where the source came from.
Good luck!

hi, i'm a pediatric nurse and we see a ton of kids recently with mrsa abscesses. you can check out the website www.cdc.gov for more info. its becoming very prevalent in the community and its just important to do very strict handwashing and keep the area covered when its draining. people can carry mrsa on their skins but it might not cause any problems. if your son or anyone else in the household develops another abscess like this one, red,swollen,painful it is most likely going to be mrsa also so let the doctor know so the appropriate antibiotics can be used

Hi M. - I know exactly what you are going through. About a year and a half ago both my husband and my son, who was about a year and a half at the time, contracted MRSA. They both had several infected boils and for a while they kept coming back. I was tested too and was found to be a carrier, but fortunately never developed any of the sores. Anyway, we all ended up being treated with a couple of very strong antibiotics (can't remember their names off the top of my head), and we haven't had a problem since. We didn't know for sure where it originated either, but my guess is my husband contracted it at the gym. The best way to avoid spreading it is to always keep the sore covered, wash your son's towels, sheets, clothes, etc separately in hot water, and wash out the bathtub real well every time he's done taking a bath. As far as it being extremely dangerous, it is if you don't have it treated because the infection can get into the bloodstream. But it sounds like you caught it early enough, so I wouldn't worry about that. Good luck and I hope your son feels better soon!
J.

It's highly contagious. You should ask your doctor too, but I will tell you what I know about it. You should use as many disposeable things as you can. Keep all fluids cleaned up, as that is what is is spread from, and bodily fluids. Keep the baby cleaned up good. Wash any laundry separate with bleach. Make sure anyone that has wounds have them covered good with antibiotic cream.

MRSA is very scary and I'm glad that you caught it so quickly. There is a lot online and I'm sure that your doctor would give you some literature about mrsa. I know a number of people who have had infections and one young man was in the hospital for a very long time, the infection spread into his blood and it was very scary. Mrsa can be on almost anything, like a cold or flu bug. It can live there for a very long time and infect anyone who has any sort of open wound. The best advise to prevent it is to do exactly what you did. Be diligent in keeping a clean house and watch any opens sores or wounds that your children devolp. If you do a search for MRSA online you'll find all sorts of good information.

I would either call the doctor and ask what preventative measures to take or I would check online for information at sites like the CDC or webmd.

Hi, M.. Your son probably contracted MRSA at day care (if he goes) or somewhere around a large number of other people. Since you knew enough to take the necessary precautions and get him to his doctor, I think you'll all be ok. It is spread through contact with the wound, if any of you touched it and had an open area, etc. Keep it clean and covered and make sure you follow the doctors instructions EXACTLY. Keep your eye on him for any fevers or any other signs of illness and, if you notice them, take him to his doctor IMMEDIATELY.
T.
If you Google MRSA, you'll get a load of info.

I know you posted this a few days ago, but I just read it. I wanted to let you know that my 2-year-old was in the hospital for 4 days last year with a MRSA infection. It also started as a boil in his diaper area. The best thing to do is make sure that everything that comes in contact with the area is completely and thoroughly washed. I also washed by son's bed sheets and blankets and his stuffed animals, everything, were washed about every other day in extremely hot water, just to make sure that the germ went away. It's so easily transmitted. I'm not sure where he got it either, but he had it. At first when I took him to the doctor, they cultured it and gave him oral antibiotics. We went for a recheck after the lab results came back positive for MRSA and it wasn't getting better. They wouldn't even let me go home first. They sent me right to hospital and gave him 4 days of IV antibiotics. It was so hard! Then about a week after he was discharged, it flared up again. But I was on the lookout for it and took immediately to the doctor. They gave me a month's worth of antibiotics and after that he's been fine.

I hope your son gets better and good luck getting rid of that nasty germ!

Hi M.,
I am also a nuse on a pediatric floor. MRSA can be scary but we see alot of it in the hospital. Everyone has given good advice above. Wash, Wash, Wash would be my advice. Handwashing should be huge in your house right now. You could get hand sanitizer to have around the house to help sanitize more quickly. Chlorox also makes a disinfecting spray that you can spray on hard surfaces to disinfect.
Another big piece of advice is to take the antibiotics exactly as they are prescribed. When you have an infection like this you do not want to be missing antibiotic doses.

It sounds like you are a very concerned mother and will take very good care of your son!