the dreaded mrsa

[susiewoo]

Mum is booked to have her hip replaced but at preasessment she was found to have mrsa up her nose...she has had the treatment and re-swabbed but mrsa in throat now........another week of treatment just starting.
Question.....is it reasonable for me to suggest that all residents are swabbed and treated as required?
As Mum has contracted this in the home I am worried that even if she gets the all clear by the time the operation date comes again will she be re-infected and then we have to start again...this could be a real merry go round!!!!!!!!!

 

[jenniferpa]

The problem is: how do you know if she became infected in the home? And even if she did, are there any effective treatments? From what I've read, something like 70% of the population are colonised with MRSA intermittently and 30% are permanently colonised. Also, it is apparently extremely difficult to erradicate MRSA from an institution where it has taken root.

What I would do in your situation is ask if the carers have been tested: they are the most likely reason for the transmission if it turns out your mother isn't a carrier. But as I said she might be: carriers don't show any ill-effects.

 

[Nebiroth]

Keep in mind that MRSA is carried without ill effect by a large percentage of the population.

It is when people have compromised immune systems (though chemotherapy, perhaps) or when there are open wounds that it becomes a problem.

So your mum could have picked up the bacteria from almost anywhere, or even been a long-time carrier herself without even being aware of it.

I suspect there are no actual treatments for such "infections" because they are not really infections in the classic sense.

It would be counter-productive to attempt to treat other residents in the home. First, because the more you treat it, the more likely you are to spread resistance to the few effective antibiotics (antibiotic overuse is what has lead to MRSA); second, because such treatments can have side-effects; third, you are highly unlikely to eliminate it anyway, because there is such a large pool of the population carrying it anyway, so reinfection would occur from carers, visitors, etc.