My mom is 65 years old and had both knees replaced. 3 years later she got a staph infection in the left knee that was replaced. ( she always said it never felt the same as the right knee and it always sweld up) the docotors keept dissmissing her saying it was normal.
As a result, the knee replacement was completely removed and a spacer was put in. She had a soft cast and bed rest fo 3 months until the infection was gone.
After the infection was gone the surgeon did a reconstruction knee replacement and this time they added rods to the leg.
Now, 9 months later she has a staph infection again in the same knee and down the leg. Now awaiting surgery to have everything removed once again
My mother does not have any illnesses that would cause staph. why is she getting it 2 times now ?
Also they are telling her if she gets another staph after the new surgery that she may loose use of her leg ? Does anyone know how people get staph and is there anyway to get rid of it for goo ?
I am not a professional or anything but I would assume since a staph infection is a bacteria you cant really become immune to it like a normal virus. It could be that the bacteria was still exsistant after the surgery. Please remember that I have no idea what I'm talking about and I am actually here to ask if I have a staph infection.
I have had a staph infection. There are 2 kinds: one is resilient to most antibiotics (referred to as MRSA) and the other is sensitive to antibiotics (MSSA). MSSA is easier to treat, since it responds well to antibiotics, but that doesn't mean it is gone overnight once antibiotics start. In my case, I got MSSA after my ankle fusion. The infection was all the way in my bone which makes it more difficult to treat. I learned from my Infectious Disease Dr. that once the infection reaches the bone it never really goes away completely, but it does go into remission. It is possible for people who have been diagnosed with staph infection in the past to have a relapse after another surgery. In my case, my ortho surgeon has another surgery to do on my foot, and he has decided to wait until a year has passed since my initial diagnosis of staph. He said if you make it a year without the infection flaring up again, your chances on not having a relapse improve.
In my opinion, the first thing you can do for your mother is find out what kind of staph infection she has. By the way, staph bacteria live everywhere and can be on th surface of your skin without causing any problems. It is when it attacks tender or injured tissue that it causes so much damage.
Next, you can talk to your doctor about the best from of treatment.
I hope this helps.
Step
You should really look into hyperbaric oxygen therapy, it's usually indicated for deep, difficult to treat infection like gas gangrene and osteomyelitis.
Basically, the patient is given pure oxygen in a pressurized chamber; which, in turn, increases the amount of oxygen in the infected area, promoting better healing. Most importantly, oxygen is bacteriostatic/bacteriocidal to many anaerobic bacterial strains.
Unfortunately, it's quite expensive-- about $100 an hour. It might be an auxiliary therapy to consider, while simultaneously taking antibiotics.
You should also ask for a bacterial culture-- if possible-- so the microbiologists can do a SENSITIVITY TEST on the strain. This way you'll know what antibiotics to treat it with.
