MRSA and Trichomonas

harka

Hi there,

Flagyl kills Trichomonas pretty easily, so as long as you guys didn't have sex (unprotected or protected) while you were on therapy, you're both likely clear of it.

As for the MRSA...MRSA is drug resistant, yes, but that doesn't mean there aren't oral antibiotics which can treat it. Did your boyfriend have one abscess or more than one, and where exactly was it?

Community-acquired MRSA often presents in healthy people as multiple boils. It probably doesn't have much to do with the Trichomonas and was just bad luck they appeared at the same time. Unless your GP is familiar with MRSA, your boyfriend needs to get the abscess lanced, with or without concurrent active oral antibiotics if there was a lot of skin inflammation. After he's done treatment, he needs to go on what we call a "decolonization protocol" which is essentially baths, shampoos and oral antibiotics for a week to rid himself of the MRSA colonization.

Many people become recolonized, but 60% of people after being decolonized, won't have problems again.

Scaredgfriend

HI!

He had one abcess on his right forearm which he did have lanced and drained right away and was put on antibiotics (oral and one IV dose in the ER). We think this might have occurred because his immune system was low from overuse of antibiotics in the first place. Prior to receiving the flagyl he had taken the last pill of zithromax (z-pak) for an URI/cold/cough. He is also in the military and had been in country from Iraq for about two months--I read that MRSA is occurring more in military personnel because of close contact/quarters.

So it would be safe to say that I won't acquire the anything being in close contact with him, correct? Only if I am close to the open wound, correct?

Thank you so much. Much appreciated.

harka

So you know for sure that the stuff he had in the abscess was MRSA right? (community acquired MRSA does tend to present with boils like you describe). If that's the case, then you have certainly been exposed to MRSA and since you're asymptomatic (i.e. don't have boils) you are at the most colonized with the bug....that means, it lives on your skin, but hasn't caused any symptoms.

I wrote a post earlier in this section of the forum about what MRSA really is. There's really nothing all that special about it except that it is resistant to the semi-synthetic penicillins which MSSA (methicillin SENSITIVE Staphylococcus aureus) is not.

One other thing: it's a common misconception that the immune system is "weakened" by antibiotics. This is not the case. The immune system can be "weak" in the presence of antibiotics, but that is usually because of the underlying condition the patient is suffering from--not the antibiotics themselves. But, when on antibiotics, you can run in to other problems like certain infections growing better because their competitors are being killed. This usually happens when one is really sick and is on "big gun" and "broad spectrum antibiotics". Ironically, your boyfriend was actually on an antibiotic which can often be effective against MRSA (i.e. azithromycin).

So in any case, I hope BOTH of you feel better, and if your boyfriend is having problems with recurrent boils, he really should see either an internist or infectious diseases specialist who can deal with it.