# My body pulls an April Fools prank on me and I nearly die **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 3, 2012, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665 "2012-04-03T03:16:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/21 "2012-04-04T22:50:14Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Glad you’re OK too - but I’ve been wondering about **cmyk** ’s question, and rather hoped someone had posted an answer. Is it common for staph infections to present like that, or did it it get a toehold, so to speak, when the OP opened up the pore to squeeze out the crud? Staph is everywhere- on surfaces, on your skin, some people even carry it in their nose. Usually it doesn’t cause any problems, but if you have very dry skin that you’ve opened up by scratching, or wounds that you’re not keeping covered, and things like that, then it can cause infections. It’s very common for staph infections to look like a pimple or a bug bite. It’s most likely it started out as an infection, not a common pimple. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/22 "2012-04-05T01:05:07Z")
My daughter had one of those - I thought it was a wart - she is prone to them. Then it grew overnight and I took her in. Staph. I’m glad I didn’t try and pop it at home - it was really painful for her, plus she needed antibiotics and needed to be tested. The peditrician said its actually really common - she gets one or two every week. She thought it probably started as just a hair follicle that got infected. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/23 "2012-04-05T04:28:40Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m actually part of that contingent. It’ll take more than a potentially fatal infection to change my mind, too. 😃 Well, alrighty then. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/24 "2012-04-05T06:38:04Z")
[Necrotizing fasciitis](http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/necrotizing-fasciitis-flesh-eating-bacteria-topic-overview) (no pictures) can start from a pimple. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/25 "2012-04-05T07:02:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m actually part of that contingent. It’ll take more than a potentially fatal infection to change my mind, too. 😃 We expect nothing less from the staff. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/26 "2012-04-05T18:08:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m actually part of that contingent. It’ll take more than a potentially fatal infection to change my mind, too. 😃 Wait, I thought of a better response - so, it’ll take a fatal infection to get you to change your mind? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/27 "2012-04-05T20:22:17Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Staph is everywhere- on surfaces, on your skin, some people even carry it in their nose. Usually it doesn’t cause any problems, but if you have very dry skin that you’ve opened up by scratching, or wounds that you’re not keeping covered, and things like that, then it can cause infections. It’s very common for staph infections to look like a pimple or a bug bite. It’s most likely it started out as an infection, not a common pimple. That’s true and not true. There are many strains of Staphylococcus. Aureus, epidermidis, saprophyticus, lugdunensis and hominis, to name a few. Some are everywhere and pose little or no threat, some are rare and very dangerous. When one speaks of a Staph infection it’s most likely [Staph aureus](http://textbookofbacteriology.net/staph.html), which has the sub-strain [MRSA](http://dermnetnz.org/bacterial/staphylococci.html) (beware, pictures included). ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/28 "2012-04-05T20:48:01Z")
I got an infected violin hickey (the mark you get between your jaw and your neck from practicing) like this a few years ago. I finally went to the doctor when the boil got so big I had a hard time opening my mouth. Antibiotics cleared it up but the boil popped in the middle of the night and I woke up in a stinking gooey mess of pus. It was so disgusting I almost cried. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/29 "2012-04-05T20:51:29Z")
double post ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/30 "2012-04-05T21:25:39Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > We expect nothing less from the staff. 😃 Or from the staph, as the case may be. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665/31 "2012-04-05T22:07:42Z")
[me too]I had a run-in with cellulitis a year and a half ago, and again nearly a year later - saw it coming the second time, but it was still a 48-hour hospital stay for me with an annoying fever. Unlike **Miller** , the notion of a staph infection never occurred to me the first time - I just thought it was “man flu” and had no idea the peculiar irritating rash was what was making me feel ill, and it was only an attack of second thoughts that prompted me to tell the wife “Oh, OK then” when she asked if she should ring the out-of-hours surgery on Sunday afternoon. An hour later I fainted in the waiting room and came round to find the room scrolling before my eyes, the ambulance already on its way, and the doctor cannulising me to save precious time. Fun stuff leading to a four-day stopover and a lower leg the size of an airship. What state I’d have been in if I had just waited until Monday morning and scheduled surgery hours, I daren’t speculate.[/me too] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-body-pulls-an-april-fools-prank-on-me-and-i-nearly-die/617665.md?page=1)