My roommate has a staph infection, how do I avoid certain death?

Factual Questions
21

It’s only scary because it’s resistant to treatment. You’ll be fine as long as you don’t have any open wounds. If it gets in your nose or mouth it could colonise, but then a nasal swab will detect it and your doctor can advise you on what to do.

Get some isopropyl alcohol if you’re that worried. It’s in the sterile wipes I use at work (which I stole from the phlebotomist) to clean pen off x-rays prior to digitzing them.

Keep any open wounds clean, dry and covered and you’ll be fine. And avoid your friend’s bed linen, bathtowels etc.

But if you do start to feel poorly just pop down to your GP and explain what’s happened and let them sort you out.

22

CA-MRSA (community-acquired methicillin resistant staph aureus) is replacing other strains of staph as the most common cause of skin and soft tissue infections all over the US. It differs from HA-MRSA (hospital acquired) in that CA-MRSA can still be killed by pretty ordinary antibiotics like sulfa, tetracycline, or clindamycin while HA-MRSA only is sensitive to vancomycin (an IV medication) and linezolid (a pill, horribly expensive, and whose overuse is already resulting in resistance).

CA-MRSA is everywhere. NFL players got it at more than one facility from sharing towels and overall poor hygiene. It’s seen in public schools, military institutions, and prisons (where I became an expert on it). It’s a little more aggressive than standard staph infections, but 99.8% of the infections are limited to skin only, many clear up with simple drainage of the lesion and topical antibiotics (antibiotic pills NOT always desireable or necessary), but it is out there and it’s the new strain and we need to get used to it.

What to do? See a pimple or signs of an early infection? See a “spider bite”? In my experience, 98% of reported spider bites were actually staph skin infections. So, slather on the bacitracin ointment, and keep it on with an occlusive dressing. Getting a whitehead or abscess? See your doctor for definitive treatment. Getting fevers, chills, malaise? That’s a sign that it may have spread to your blood, hie thee hence to your medical provider for advice.

Keep open, draining wounds covered at all times, wear gloves to change the dressing, and dispose of the soiled dressings safely. They do not need to go into biohazard bags unless the dressing are so saturated that they are pourable, drippable, or squeezable.

How to avoid/prevent recurrences? Wash your hands, wash your hands, wash your hands. Keep your fingers out of your nose! Don’t reuse towels, don’t share towels, keep your sheets and other linens clean, change your shorts! If one keeps getting recurrent infections, a nasal swab should be done to see if one is colonized. If one is colonized, a drug regimen is prescribed to try to eliminate all signs of colonization. (Not all folks can/should be decolonized. Live in a prison and you’ll probably just get it back again, so don’t waste antibiotics decolonizing in vain, save them for use for the next active infection, if there is one).

I could rattle on even more, but the 2 page guideline I put together for how to handle MRSA is at the office, and besides I’m sort of bored with the topic now.

23

Get a bug fogger and fog your whole apartment to try and kill the spider. I doubt your lysol cleaning got it, so you might as well try to eliminate what very well may be the source of staph that is still climbing around in your apartment.

24

I agree with Qadgop the Mercotan. It’s very likely not “spider bites”. Keep any break in the skin very clean and slathered with trible antibiotic ointment and clean Band-aids.

It might help to give your immune system a little boost.

Here’s what I do to boost my immune system:

Bulk up on probiotics- they have several rather powerful but tasty “supplements” in the Yogurt aisle but you can just go to the “Health food store” and take pills.

http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/abstract/78/7/1597
*“potential health benefits of lactic acid bacteria include protection against enteric infections, use as an oral adjuvant, the immunopotentiator in malnutrition, and the prevention of chemically induced tumors. The results showed that Lactobacillus casei could prevent enteric infections and stimulate secretory IgA in malnourished animals, but could produce bacteria translocation. Yogurt could inhibit the growth of intestinal carcinoma through increased activity of IgA, T cells, and macrophages.”
*
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=4742061

Zinc.
http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/68/2/447S
“Zinc is known to play a central role in the immune system, and zinc- deficient persons experience increased susceptibility to a variety of pathogens. The immunologic mechanisms whereby zinc modulates increased susceptibility to infection have been studied for several decades. It is clear that zinc affects multiple aspects of the immune system, from the barrier of the skin to gene regulation within lymphocytes. Zinc is crucial for normal development and function of cells mediating nonspecific immunity such as neutrophils and natural killer cells. Zinc deficiency also affects development of acquired immunity by preventing both the outgrowth and certain functions of T lymphocytes such as activation, Th1 cytokine production, and B lymphocyte help. Likewise, B lymphocyte development and antibody production, particularly immunoglobulin G, is compromised. … Zinc also functions as an antioxidant and can stabilize membranes. This review explores these aspects of zinc biology of the immune system and attempts to provide a biological basis for the altered host resistance to infections observed during zinc deficiency and supplementation.”*
Echinacea.
http://ict.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/3/247
Echinacea, a native of North America, is widely used to prevent, or provide early treatment for, colds. Preclinical studies lend biological plausibility to the idea that echinacea works through immune mechanisms. Numerous clinical trials have been carried out on echinacea preparations: it appears that the extracts shorten the duration and severity of colds and other upper respiratory infections (URIs) when given as soon as symptoms become evident.
10 Drops 2X a day of Nutribiotic Grapefruit seed Extract- gargle and swallow the diluted drops. This stuff may be snakeoil, but it is harmless in the suggested doses.

Vitamin C- 500mg. No megadoses. Extra vitamin C doesn’t really seem to help, but having a deficiency of it is bad.

Get plenty of rest, no stress. Don’t get dehydrated and don’t drink too much booze- cutting or stopping smoking is also good.

25

Ianad

26

“Spider bite” is doubtful.

PDF!

"It’s Not a Spider Bite, It’s Community-Acquired Methicillin-
Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. "

http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1444-0903.2004.00506.x/abs/
"*Aim: To describe the clinical features, investigation, diagnosis and treatment of ulcers attributed to white-tail (WT) spider bites or necrotic arachnidism.

Methods: The study was a prospective case series of patients referred to the Hunter Area Toxicology Service (a tertiary referral toxicology unit servicing a population of 500 000) with an ulcer or skin lesion that had been attributed to either a suspected WT spider bite or necrotic arachnidism. Eleven patients with skin lesions or necrotic ulcers were referred between January 2000 and June 2002.

Results: In two patients that were inpatients in other hospitals, investigation and follow up was not possible. In both cases there was no history of spider bite and Staphylococcus aureus was cultured. In nine patients, a diagnosis other than spider bite was made following appropriate investigation and follow up, including: (i) two cases of dermatophytoses, (ii) three staphylococcal infections, (iii) one case of pyoderma gangrenosum, (iv) one case of cutaneous polyarteritis nodosa, (v) one case of Nocardia braziliensis and (vi) one infected diabetic ulcer. …

Conclusions: In this series, all cases initially referred as WT spider bites or necrotic arachnidism were found to have alternative diagnoses with appropriate investigations. This demonstrates that spider bites are an unlikely cause of necrotic ulcers and that all ulcers should be properly investigated with bacterial, fungal and mycobacterial cultures and skin biopsy for histopathology. "
*

http://www.annals.org/cgi/reprint/144/5/368.pdf
PDF!
“Community- acquired abscesses and other skin infections, especially those that
initially resemble “spider bites” with areas … Staphylococcus aureus infections”

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/amsus/zmm/2006/00000171/00000009/art00013
Skin Lesions in Barracks: Consider Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Infection Instead of Spider Bites…Recent outbreaks of mysterious skin lesions on multiple personnel at several military facilities were initially blamed on spiders. Requests were made for pest inspection and control to remedy the situation. Greater scrutiny of the situation led to a hypothesis that instead of spiders, an infectious outbreak of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) should be investigated as the etiology. Subsequent culturing of the lesions on personnel at one facility confirmed this bacterial etiology. Barracks, as well as other close quarter military living conditions, are ripe environments for the establishment, persistence, and spread of CA-MRSA. Military medical personnel should consider CA-MRSA as a more likely etiologic agent than spider bites for cutaneous eruptions in which there are multiple lesions on one person or multiple patients with similar lesions.

27

One more thing: **DiosaBellissima **you might want to printout those cites and give a copy to your roomate for her Doctor and take one set to the Student Health center. The University should inform the students.