can you tell if you have a staph aureous infection from a blood test

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Not directly no. To isolate an organism like this you would need to do it via blood cultures, which means taking blood.

The prescence of infection generally would be checked by blood tests to look at raised white cell count, sed rate and CRP, all indicators of presence of infection/inflammation.

so this would not show up in a pre-op blood test, one taken before entering the hospital for surgery.

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No it would not. A routine blood check for hematology would probably show a raised white cell count, CRP and sed rate, which are all possible indicators of infection. If all these were found in a routine blood test, then they would have to do further testing to isolate the organism causing the infection.

If it is a viral infection, then this will not show up on a blood test, however, if bacterial then blood cultrues would need to be done to isolate the organism, be it Staph or something else. Skin or throat swabs would also need to be taken and also swabs of any wound. Staph is most likely to occur in the throat, the skin or in wounds, so all these need to be cultured and wound swabs sent for M,C and S to isolate the organism.

If you had a Staph infection, you would probably be unwell also with a fever and other symptoms.

Hope this helps?

Could you tell me what other symptoms to look for? My 3 kids (7, 4, 18mos) all have fevers and really bad coughing, body shakes, that just "came upon them" in a day or so. It's only been a week and I'm calling my pediatrician in the morning anyway, but they don't seem to be getting any better despite cough medicine, decongestants, and fever reducers.

Normally, I wouldn't be so concerned about a staph infection, but my Mom has just been diagnosed with MRSA (see above thread.) I'm starting to get really worried. Would it make a difference to mention My mom's infection to my kids' pediatrician?

Thanks
Sue

This sounds more like a viral infection that they have all picked up and if they have been in a hospital, this can happen. I think you will find that it probably has nothing to do with MRSA. If it is anything, it is more likely to be a strep infection rather than a staph infection. Also, MRSA and strep are bacterial infections and it does sound as though your kids have a viral respiratory infection, which can produce cold, coughs and high fevers. I think this is more likely and they will go on for longer than a week sometimes.

I would also urge you not to give them anything for the fever. This could prolong the illness, as a fever is the body's natural way of getting rid of an infection. The hypothalamus will re-set the thermostat to a higher level so that the heat will burn off the viral infection. Viruses are killed by heat.

I don't know whether you have used homeopathic remedies at all? This sounds as if they would all benefit from a dose of BELLADONNA 6/30x. This will help a sudden onset of high fever with shakes and a cough. Homeopathic remedies are perfectly safe.

This should also help the fever, but you can also use tepid sponging too.

i disagree with not giving your kids anything to bring down a fever. my child experienced a seizure due to a fever that wasnt under control. dr said to make sure the fever comes down and stays down.

A fever is the body's natural response to infection and does not need to be treated unless is goes up to a very high level. Tepid sponging is very good for bringing down a high fever fast.

If you also read my post you would also see that I recommended intervention with BELLADONNA which is an indicated fever remedy.

Thanks for the info. Luckily, the kids are getting better, so I realize it wasn't anything to do with my mom's infection. We also found out it's VRE and not MRSA. I was just worried because they all came down with it at once, and it was a couple of days after seeing my mom. I guess my mind went overboard.
S