MRSA - Question - Infectious Diseases Message Board

lisam21 · 05-05-2003, 10:50 PM

Hi,
I'm almost 22 and my grandfather was admitted into ICU almost 2 weeks ago for CHF. His lungs keep filling up with fluid, he's on a breathing ventilator and not doing well. The doctors just found out a few days ago that he has MRSA which I guess also caused pneumonia. How concerned should I be about having MRSA as well? I was not feeling well during several visits with him. I have visited him 2-3 times a day since he was admitted into ICU never missing a day. I have held his hand, touched his face etc. I went to the doctors the other day because I was not feeling well and had a lot of congestion at the base of my throat, this was just 1 day BEFORE the doctors diagnosed my grandfather as having MRSA so I didnt know at the time I went to the doctors. The doctor said I had a mucous plug at the base of my throat and I guess some kind of an infection and put me on Z-pack and 2 different decongestants. I am still feeling weird and congested and have a bad headache with fever on and off. I also have had Epstein Barr for years so I don't know if that makes a difference with possibly contacting MRSA. Anyways, should I be concerned about having possibly having MRSA?? I keep reading that it's not likely that someone visiting will get it so is there a cause for concern or am I over-reacting??
Thanks for any info!
Lisa

mlgable · 05-27-2003, 09:49 AM

By now you have probably got this under control but the headaches along with the congestion and fevers is consistent with sinus infections/severe sinusitis. We all have MSRA in our bodies it is just not always active. Unless you breathed in any droplets of MRSA from your grandfathers coughing or touched him where he has some discharge so to speak on his hand or cheek and had an open area or a port of entry so to speak I doubt you have active MRSA right now. Also it depends if his MRSA was active at the time or colonized. Hopefully by now your doc has eased your mind for you about all of this though.

amphigory · 05-27-2003, 03:25 PM

We all have MRSA in our bodies all the time? I have to question this. MRSA (methicillin-resistant staph aureus) is a mutant that wasn't observed widely until fairly recently. While S. aureus might be found in normal flora (I don't know this off the top of my head), I'd doubt that MRSA would be.

mlgable · 05-28-2003, 07:24 AM

MRSA is staph bacteria that is resistant and yes it is in your body the same as we all have staph in our body.
In the past, most serious staph bacteria infections were treated with a certain type of antibiotic related to penicillin. Over the past 50 years, treatment of these infections has become more difficult because staph bacteria have become resistant to various antibiotics, including the commonly used penicillin-related antibiotics (1). These resistant bacteria are called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

amphigory · 05-28-2003, 08:54 AM

I understand that S. aureus is commonly found in humans, and I wasn't trying to argue with that.

However, MRSA is a specific subset of multiply resistant strains of S. aureus. The S. aureus in normal human flora isn't necessarily MRSA.