Re: Study Shows Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Responsible For Increase In Muscle

[Guest guest]

KC...I had researched this back in August when I came down with MRSA.

I woke up on a Friday night, very late...my leg was hurting me so I

got up and took a look at it. I have a black circle the size of a

quarter and cellulitis starting to circle from the inner aspect of rhe

leg more so to the knee. Due to it being so late in the evening, I

had waited til first thing next morning and called Urgent Care. They

had me to go down right away when I had explained what the area had

looked like Friday night compared to Saturday morning, of course now I

knew I was in a bit of trouble here knowing what I had all ready known

could be confirmed. The doctor came in looked at the area measured

the redness and the size of the black spot. He then of course did an

I & D, took cultures, irrigated, then packed the area. My first

question to him was, is it staph and is it MRSA. He then said I don't

think it is MRSA due to my not being hospitalized or had recent

surgeries but would know by the following Tuesday when the cultures

came back. I had to go to Urgent Care everyday, for unpacking,

irrigating, and repacking, measuring the area. So Tuesday came along

and he looked at me and said I am so sorry, it is MRSA and told me I

had MRSA but it was worse than the hospital acquired one. He then

asked me if I had been around pediatric patients, I told him I hadn't

been doing pediatric nursing since 2001...well no nursing since I am

disabled. He then proceeded to tell me this MRSA was more prevelant

in pediatrics. Let me say though, the first day I was put on Keflex

and Bactrim, and pain meds. Watched very closely do to the danger

with this infection. No one knows how I got it or where I could of

caught it since I was home all the time. I did question wether the

MRSA would have had any connection with airborne molds, etc due to my

home environment and my illness from these toxins. I was told no....I

had done some research on this, and my oppinion is I thought it had a

relationship with the airborne. I had to be on antibiotics for almost

a month and watched closely by an infectious disease doctor. I still

have to shower with pHisoHex dialy to rid outer body of bacteria and

have to do so for 3 months, but will call doc back the end of this

month to check in with him. And no this didn't get reported by the

doctor's, the State Board of Health called me due to my concern

regarding having to report this. The doctor from there also told me

no but they would have it in the data base the numbers of MRSA or

Staph a. infections reported for each city. I did have to stay away

from family, friends and relatives....i was more or less quarinteened

to my house. No one could come in due to my being contagious for over

a month. I still have so many unanswered questions, still searching

for answers. I am seeing Dr. Santilli from CT. on October 10 for a

work up. Just thought I would share my little story here, and pray to

God I never get MRSA again or anyone that I know, or anyone in the

group. My thoughts and prayers go out to all, we have enough to deal

with without adding to our existing illnesses. Take care everyone.

Thanks,

Darlene

--- In , " tigerpaw2c " <tigerpaw2c@...>

wrote:

>

> Source: Infectious Diseases Society of America

> Date: September 7, 2006

>

> http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/09/060907104645.htm

>

> Study Shows Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria Responsible For Increase

> In Muscle Infections

>

> Researchers in Houston, Texas have found two bacterial muscle

> infections common in tropical countries becoming more frequent

> occurrences along with the emergence of community-acquired

> methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), according to

> a study published in the Oct. 15 issue of Clinical Infectious

> Diseases, now available online.

>

> Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, is a common bacterium found on the

> skin or in the nose of a quarter to a third of all people. Usually

> harmless, staph can cause skin infections such as pimples and boils

> and, less frequently, serious infections of surgical wounds or the

> bloodstream, and pneumonia. For years, infections caused by

> Staphylococcus aureus have been treated by inexpensive antibiotics

> in the penicillin and cephalosporin family.

>

> Some years ago, strains resistant to these drugs, called methicillin-

> resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) appeared in hospitalized

> patients. Recently, however, newer forms of MRSA began to strike

> healthy people who have not been recently hospitalized or undergone

> invasive medical procedures. These community-acquired strains appear

> to be readily transmitted from person to person and can cause

> serious skin and soft tissue infections as well as invasive

> infections such as bone or joint infections or pneumonia. Failure by

> physicians to suspect this kind of drug-resistant staph can lead to

> treatment with the wrong antibiotic.

>

> Pyomyositis is an acute bacterial infection of skeletal muscle that

> produces an abscess within the muscle. Myositis is also a muscle

> infection, but does not form an abscess. The study authors

> investigated the 45 cases of pyomyositis or myositis in otherwise

> healthy children who were hospitalized at Texas Children's Hospital

> from 2000 through 2005. Sixteen of these cases were caused by CA-

> MRSA and 10 by CA-MSSA (methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus

> aureus).

>

> The number of cases increased year by year, from four cases in the

> first year of the study to a high of 12 cases in the fifth year of

> the study. The authors also discovered that a specific strain of

> Staphylococcus aureus known as USA300 was associated with more

> severe disease. Similarly, staph that carried a group of genes known

> as PVL were also linked to a more severe illness.

>

> " We're seeing an increasing number of muscle infections that is

> clearly associated with an increase in MRSA, " said lead author Pia

> Pannaraj, MD. " Physicians need to be aware that this is a

> possibility and consider initial treatment with an antibiotic that

> covers MRSA, particularly if they live in a region where methicillin

> resistance is present. "

>