Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteria

Taffy

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Apr 15, 2007
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I would like to hear from anyone who has any experience with this Staph Germ. My dad has it in his blood and recently spent 5 weeks in hospital with multiple health issues as well.

On dad's discharge 10 days ago the Pic line was removed and it was said that, there were no need for anymore antibiotics. Each day he was home it was a step backwards for him. Last Tuesday he seen his GP and the visit was taken up with prescriptions referrals to the necessary specialist, organising the home blood tests and wound care supplies. No check on dad BUT the GP was aware dad was to see the blood specialist the following Thursday.

Wednesday, I received a phone call from the hospital saying it was necessary to bring dad down to have the Pic Line reinserted and antibiotics started, I said they would need to arrange transport as dad was in no fit state to travel by car. They got back to me and said they were organising the Pic Line to be put in at the local hospital before dad seen the specialist.... which this hospital is much closer. Thursday morning they were to phone with the times.

Thursday, I had a early morning phone call from dad....I need a doctor. I got there ASAP and thought he was dead as I walked closer his arm moved....I called for the ambulance. Dad urgently needed blood he was very warm and had a slight temp. I explained about the phone calls from the other hospital concerning the Pic Line. I was told that was all a mistake not to worry everything was clear.... I didn't receive the phone call Thursday as planned and I thought no more of it.

Friday, I received the phone call about the Pic Line and all the arrangements made..... I was asked to accompany dad because of his confusion I said his confusion....I'm confused!. I gave them all the details and told them to just sort it out with the local hospital.

As things stand today, the antibiotics have started again...tomorrow the Pic Line will be reinserted..... dad continues to receive blood and iron transfusions there is yet to be a improvement in dad. What tomorrow brings who knows.

Does anyone know anything about this bacteria?? Trying to get to see a doctor I might as well be chasing Moon Beams!

On a lighter note and do apology in advance if anyone is offended. Dad wanted to see mum and I picked her up from the care home, mum was very compliant and peaceful BUT quite clueless. After a short while mum wanted to return to the home I asked her to say goodbye to dad. Mum asked who he was and I told her that it was her husband....she smiled and told me how funny I was....I would never marry someone that old and sick. Dad never heard her, she did however smile and wave. Love Taffy.
 

Nebiroth

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Aug 20, 2006
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Not quite. MRSA is a strainof this particular bacteria. The name derives from "Methycillin Resistant".

A Staph A. infection does not automatically mean you have MRSA, although this is becoming increasingly common.

One of the problems is that the bug (including the resistant variant) is carried (harmlessly) by a large portion of the population. It only becomes a problem when it gets into vulnerable people, such as those with wounds or with a weakened immune system.
 

gigi

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Nov 16, 2007
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Taffy I have to agree with Sylvia..

MRSA is Methycillin Resistant Staph Aureus..and is treatable..

In your dad's case it's likely he has this because of his weakened condition and ..I'm assuming..long term antibiotic cover.

Blood test and wound swabs will reveal the bacteria..and recommend suitable treatment..

It may take a while to turn your dad round..don't give up hope.

I loved your mum's comment!!:)

Thinking of you..love Gigi xx
 
1

117katie

Guest
Dear Taffy

Sounds as though your plate's full again, Taffy. But your Mum's keeping you smiling - lovely story, thanks for that one.

Please don't panic about the Staph A or MRSA: easy to say, hard to do, I know. My husband had Staph A, when in hospital for weeks and weeks, but he did not have MRSA. He too had a severely compromised immune system - in fact, he had almost no immune system, because they "knocked out" his own immune system in order to "allow it to rebuild itself, with a little help of course". That is a very simplistic description of his extremely rare medical condition, which he still has and will have for ever and a day - not related in any way at all to Alz or Dementia, neither of which he had then or has now. But the Staph A did not translate into MRSA, with a lot of help from the medics.

Which is why I say, please don't panic about MRSA.

Hope you get some better news soon.

Love
Katie
 

Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
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SW Scotland
Dear Taffy

Huge sympathy. John has MRSA in his heel, and it is that that the GP was refusing to treat a fortnight ago. I fought tooth and nail to get him treatment.

I don't know why the health professionals put us through it like this. I honestly think that when it gets to this stage they think they are doing us a favour by not treating.

I'm sorry you've had such a battle, and I hope your dad responds to the antibiotics. So far, John's OK -- no better, no worse -- and I know it will be a long job. But at least we have to give them a chance.

Love and hugs,
 

Margarita

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Feb 17, 2006
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Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteria

I remember learning about the Staphylococcus bacteria in a health safety food hygiene in house work training course that I done years ago .

How did your father pick that up ?

Is he in a care home ?

PS

Found this for you .


http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=346&sectionId=5

Staphylococcal food poisoning is usually caused by contamination of food with staphylococcal bacteria from a boil or blister on the skin of a food-handler.

PS

sorry bit stress of late, forgot that your father was or in a hospital .

You should make a formal complaint call in the food heath inceptor to inspect how the cooking staff are handling the food in the hospital kitchens, while your at it Sue them , but then I know you may be to stress to do that .
 
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Margarita

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Feb 17, 2006
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Look it up a bit more seem like every one is saying

http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/articles/article.aspx?articleId=252&sectionId=5

Staphylococcus * Aureus * Bacteria

Is part of the MRSA Bacteria.

Still sound like the hospital could do with some more training in hygiene handling , as it belong to the family bacteria of Staphylococcus

Ps

Read Sylvia link . as if you put in search " what is Staphylococcus * Aureus * Bacteria " you get MRSA

MRSA is the name given to a group of bacteria that belong to the Staphylococcus aureus (SA) family of bacteria.

Most Staphylococcus aureus bacteria can be treated with medicines called methicillin-type antibiotics.

However, certain types of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria cannot be treated with methicillin-type antibiotics - the bacteria are resistant to these drugs. These are called MRSA bacteria:

M - methicillin
R - resistant
S - Staphylococcus
A - aureus


God when they trained me up twice , 1st in 1998 , then in 2000 . I could never believe that a bacteria called Staphylococcus could turn into a super bug , if hygiene is not 1001 percent right it can happen . hygiene trainer was where right ! look what happen .


All due down to lack of hygiene , we have to tolerate it happing to our love one . just because some workers do not follow good hygiene practices .


human error they say ! human negligent I say .

Sorry am going on about it to much , I do hope your father can fight this bacteria with antibiotics xx
 
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elaineo2

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Jul 6, 2007
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leigh lancashire
b;oody ell taffy.how much more can you take?don't worry hun,if its mrsa,then hey ho it can be treated with antibiotics.got a resident with it at the moment.family totaly destroyed with the diagnosis.understandable,but when you know the statistics and development of it.its not as bad as it seems.elainex
 

Taffy

Registered User
Apr 15, 2007
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Thanks everyone

Thank you very much for all the replies. I read your replies early this morning and they were all helpful as I was hoping to be able to speak to a doctor today and these replies gave me more understanding of things.

I arrived for the morning visiting and was lucky to catch the Team doctor. She told me the results from the endoscope done last Friday showed that the tear in dad's oesophagus was the cause of his blood loss. Also, he has active chronic gastritis.

Dad was on a soft diet and a few days after he came home from hospital I was with him when he was eating a slice of bread and butter (no crusts) and it got caught when he swallowed it he had great difficulty trying to dislodge the bread and this is what the doctors think started the bleeding. The loss of blood brought on the angina attacks.

Dad had received intravenous antibiotics every six hours for four weeks owing to this bacteria and now they feel it wasn't long enough they are concerned it may be affecting his heart valve....which was a pig valve replacement 12 years back....the valve is very calcified and breaking down his red blood cells and has being for sometime this is why he needs periodic blood transfusions.

Since last Friday dad has had antibiotics every six hours through the cannula, the microbiologist will review his case today. It was mentioned....all the admissions dad has had in the last year and the fact that he lives alone. The OT phoned me this afternoon and said a full assessment would be done on dad and a geriatrician involved.

Dad was only home a week to the day when he was readmitted even if dad was in a care home he would of being sent off to A&E BUT I guess if he was somewhere that a RN was on duty 24/7 once the anaemia was treated he could of returned to a care home and the RN's could do the intravenous antibiotics. If they start talking Care Homes they'll need more than a Lucky rabbit's foot.

Thank you all again, Love Taffy.
 

Skye

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Aug 29, 2006
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SW Scotland
Hi Taffy

Glad your dad is receiving all the right treatment. I hope they work, and he's soon well again.

Regarding homes, one of the arguments they gave me was that if I had him home, he'd be in and out of hospital all the time with repeated infections, whereas in a nursing home they could could give him most treatments without admission to hospital.

It's worth considering. Perhaps your dad would accept that argument?

Love,
 

Nebiroth

Registered User
Aug 20, 2006
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Just to re-iterate: it is possible to have a Staph A. infection, but not to have MRSA.

MRSA is a strain of Staph. A that is resistant to (many) antibiotics.

But there are other strains, and it is quite possible to have an infection of one of those.

An infection is not necessarily indicative of a "dirty" hospital or "unhygienic" care homes, etc. Staph A. and the MRSA variant is carried by a large portion of the general population and this makes it extremely difficult to prevent cross infections, short of placing a patient in total isolation.

Naturally, vulnerable people (such as those with surgical wounds or weakened immune systems due to, for example, chemotherapy) are subject to a much stricter hygiene arrangement.

Another difficulty is that the patient themselves may already carry the bug (harmlessly) and it is very difficult indeed to eliminate it prior to surgery or whatever. Most patients due for surgery these days are given a powerful disinfectant to shower with several times before they go into hospital.

MRSA has arisen through the widespread use (and over use) of antibiotics. In effect, we have introduced an evolutionary pressure, and the bug has evolved via the usual process of survival of the fittest; the bugs susceptible to the antibiotic die, the resistant few remain to multiply and spread. Because bacteria reproduce very rapidly, they can also evolve very rapidly.
 
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117katie

Guest
I agree wholeheartedly with Nebiroth.

If anyone wants to understand MRSA and Staph A infection, then please just read Nebiroth's post. Simply explained.

If the problems we are now facing with MRSA can be attributed to anything or anyone - it is not mainly attributable to a dirty hospital or nurse or any other person handling food or anything like that - then I would put my money on all those people who have ever demanded antibiotics to treat a cough in their child, or to treat a sore throat in themselves.

Yes, I know that the GP is the ultimate arbiter as to whether or not he/she prescribes antibiotics. And that is where part of our current difficulties with MRSA lies. Our own GP said a few years back now that she would not ever prescribe an antibiotic for a run-of-the-mill sore throat. I respected her for that - especially as my own sore throat (or whatever it was, can't remember now) was gone withing a few days.

My next door neighbour was enormously abusive of and to that same GP for the simple reason that she refused again and again and again, to prescribe an antibiotic for her own sore throats. Which also were normally gone within a week or two. No problem; just sit back and wait for it to go.

Antibiotics work. But we ourselves are reducing their ability to work.

Resistance to an antibiotic develops slowly, and changes and then suddenly the original THING that the antibiotic once could control suddenly has developed ways of resisting that antibiotic, and rendering that antibiotic useless.

We have only ourselves to blame, I feel.

Or do we need now GPs RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIBING JUST TO GET THIS DEMANDING PATIENT OUT OF THE SURGERY. Mmmmm?

GPRAP?

Katie
 

Margarita

Registered User
Feb 17, 2006
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london
n infection is not necessarily indicative of a "dirty" hospital or "unhygienic" care homes, etc. Staph A. and the MRSA variant is carried by a large portion of the general population and this makes it extremely difficult to prevent cross infections, short of placing a patient in total isolation.


yes that is right ,
Staph A. and the MRSA variant is carried by a large portion of the general population
but lets not forget now it
spread and we can't get anyway with the point that is was lack of hygiene in member of staff in hospital not washing they hands, that course this out break to the public.



it actually took quite a long time. For many years, the bacteria were only found occasionally, and only slightly more often in people in hospital than people not in hospital.

MRSA started to appear in clusters of people in nearby beds, but the outbreaks were still small. The problem has increased as the resistant bacteria has been passed from patient to patient. The most significant method of transmission is via the hands of healthcare workers in general, not just doctors.

If a patient has MRSA on their skin and receives care It is important to distinguish between being colonised by bacteria and being infected by bacteria.
Studies have shown that people visiting hospital acquire a range of bacteria different from those they came in with. However, they do not develop a similar range of infections: having MRSA on your skin does not necessarily mean that you will become ill.
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/content/interviews/interview/551/
 
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gigi

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Nov 16, 2007
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Hi Katie,

Or do we need now GPs RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIBING JUST TO GET THIS DEMANDING PATIENT OUT OF THE SURGERY. Mmmmm?

You are totally correct in the fact that prescribing antibiotics routinely for minor infections has helped to produce bugs like MRSA..

I worked for a GP in a rural practice before retiring at the beginning of the year.
The facts are that GP's were able to routinely prescribe antibiotics until recently..many patients still demand them for minor ailments..
NICE guidelines have changed as a result of escalating MRSA/C.Diff..
GPs are no longer able to prescribe "at will"..their records are monitored...

Before the recent guidelines many GPs prescribed in good faith..they too are continuously updating and learning..
Having worked with many GPs over the years.. I categorically state that I have not met one yet who would irresponsibly prescribe drugs..antibiotics ..or otherwise..to a patient who does not warrant them..which is what you seem to be insinuating..
If I have misinterpreted your post, Katie, forgive me..

Love Gigi x
 
1

117katie

Guest
December 2004

was the original date of that link.

Couple more quotes from same link:

The bacteria itself isn't particularly nasty; it is just more resistant to treatment, which has implications when trying to find ways of preventing and treating infection

Therefore, Staphylococcus has been in contact with the antibiotic for a long time, allowing a few resistant strains to evolve. It is only since people have been repeatedly prescribed antibiotics that problems have arisen. The non-resistant strains die out, leaving the resistant strains behind.

Not my words, but the words from same link.
 

Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
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SW Scotland
NICE guidelines have changed as a result of escalating MRSA/C.Diff..
GPs are no longer able to prescribe "at will"..their records are monitored...

That explains a lot!

.

Or do we need now GPs RESISTANT TO ANTIBIOTIC PRESCRIBING JUST TO GET THIS DEMANDING PATIENT OUT OF THE SURGERY.

I'm not a demanding patient, but I'll continue to be a demanding carer, for as long as John has the slightest chance.
 
1

117katie

Guest
Dear Hazel

I was not intending for one moment so suggest otherwise. And I apologise if I chose words that meant something other to me. Nor did I intend to suggest that antibiotics are not useful and essential and, I hope I said that they do work.

But I still cannot understand the endless demand being made of GPs for antibiotics for a cough, or a sore throat, especially in a child with a healthy immune system.

Sorry if I unintentionally caused hurt. I am also a demanding carer ... or I was until the ability was taken away from me to be such.

I still care, and I am still demanding. On behalf of others now, though, and in the best interests of others.

Katie
 
1

117katie

Guest
Dear Gigi

Quote from Gigi: "Having worked with many GPs over the years.. I categorically state that I have not met one yet who would irresponsibly prescribe drugs..antibiotics ..or otherwise..to a patient who does not warrant them..which is what you seem to be insinuating.."

Gigi, I too have worked with many GPs over the years and I am not insinuating, I am citing only my own experience of same GPs. And also of many friends and neighbours. If I am unique in that experience, then so be it. I cannot change that, nor would I wish to do so.

Rather than get myself into deep water here, having already caused grief to Hazel, which is more than I would ever wish to do, then I will leave this thread. But, before departing, yes, since you ask, I have indeed known many GPs who did just that. Prescribe whatever a patient demanded, just to get that same patient out of their 8-minute or so of allotted space.

Please believe me, I quoted only from direct experience.

Sorry if I have offended by quoting my own experience. Which may be just as valid as your own.

Life is life - different for each of us; experience is experience - also different for each of us. I can't change mine, nor would I want to do so in most departments.

Katie
 

Margarita

Registered User
Feb 17, 2006
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0
london
Therefore, Staphylococcus has been in contact with the antibiotic for a long time, allowing a few resistant strains to evolve. It is only since people have been repeatedly prescribed antibiotics that problems have arisen. The non-resistant strains die out, leaving the resistant strains behind.


Yes that is right , but my point is how it spread to the general population an out break, cross infections , cross contamination

and this makes it extremely difficult to prevent cross infections, short of placing a patient in total isolation.


I disagree with that * it extremely difficult to prevent cross infections * as you can be near some who has MMRS it does not mean your get it . But if a nurse or doctor or Care worker , dresses it, does not wash they hand afterwards , leave the dressing laying around ,
sheets not wash at high temperature , where the person been laying on , dishes not wash at high temperature , that is how you get cross infections , cross contamination .


My mother was in care home, for 12 weeks they was an old lady that had it in her ear , none of the other people in the home got it .

Its all down to
hygiene , when it come to out break .
 
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