Skin And Soft Tissue Infections
Drainage of any collections of pus is of paramount importance. For small abscesses in afebrile toddlers and children, drainage alone may suffice, since treatment with efficacious and nonefficacious systemic antibacterial therapy was equivalent if adequate drainage had occurred. Placement of a subcutaneous drain, rather than formal incision and drainage, has proven successful.
What Is A Staphylococcal Infection
Staphylococcus aureus, or staph, are common bacteria that normally live on the skin. The bacteria also live harmlessly in the nasal passages of roughly 30 percent of the U.S. population. Staph can cause infection when they enter the skin through a cut or sore. Infection can also occur when the bacteria move inside of the body through a catheter or breathing tube.
Staphylococcus aureus, or S. epidermidis, can cause staphylococcal meningitis, an infection of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord caused by it usually develops as a complication of a surgical procedure or a blood-borne infection.
How Can I Prevent Mrsa Infections
You can lower your risk of getting MRSA by taking these steps:
- Keep wounds clean and bandaged.
- Donât share personal items like towels and razors.
- Place a towel on a locker room bench before sitting on it naked.
- Regularly wash sheets, towels and workout clothes in the recommended water temperature. Dry everything in a dryer. You donât need to use bleach or wash potentially contaminated items separately.
- Shower immediately after working out or participating in activities that increase your risk of MRSA exposure.
- Use disinfecting sprays that kill germs to wipe down high-touch areas like light switches, remote controls and athletic equipment. Check labels to find disinfectants that kill staph bacteria.
- Wash hands with hot water and soap for at least 20 seconds. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer when hand-washing isnât possible.
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Central Nervous System Infections
S. aureus is estimated to cause approximately 2 percent of all bacterial meningitis cases from a hematogenous or postoperative source. Eighty-four percent of patients with postoperative S. aureus meningitis had a catheter in place, typically a shunt or epidural catheter.27 Such devices need to be removed and replaced after the infection has cleared.
S. aureus causes about 10 to 15 percent of brain abscesses and 60 to 90 percent of epidural abscesses and septic venous thromboses. Surgical or radiographic drainage usually is required, but some small abscesses in patients without neurologic deficits have responded to medical therapy.28
Home Care For A Staph Infection
If you do develop a staph infection on your skin, some basic hygiene measures will encourage healing and help to prevent the spread of infection:
- Keep it clean. Follow your doctors instructions on how to clean your wound or skin condition.
- Keep it covered. Cover the affected area with gauze or a bandage, as recommended by your doctor, to protect it and avoid spreading the infection to other people.
- Dont touch it. Avoid touching the area, so you dont spread the bacteria to other parts of your body.
- Use towels only once. After you bathe, dry yourself off, then wash the towel in hot water before using it again.
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Can A Mrsa Infection Go Away On Its Own
While it is possible for MRSA to go away on its own, you shouldnt rely on that possibility. Its possible for a MRSA skin infection to get worse, or even enter the bloodstream, requiring intensive treatment and a stay in the hospital. So its best to seek treatment from a doctor early when taking antibiotics by mouth at home can be most effective at curing the infection.
How Long Does It Take For Mrsa To Go Away
This will depend on the type of treatment and the location of the MRSA. Typically, you can expect treatment to last for 7 to 14 days, although you may notice it clear up before you finish your antibiotic treatment. Its critical to complete your entire course of prescribed antibiotics. Because even if the infection appears to be gone, if you stop taking the antibiotics early, the infection may come back worse than before!
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What Are The Symptoms Of Mrsa Infection
MRSA can cause a skin rash or infection that looks like a spider bite or pimples. The red, swollen bumps may feel warm and be tender to touch. The rash may ooze.
MRSA can also cause deeper infections in different parts of the body. In severe infections the bacterium may invade the bloodstream, a situation which would be called a bloodstream infection. Symptoms of bloodstream infection include fever and chills.
What Are The Treatments For Staph Infection
Most staph infection on the skin can be treated with a topical antibiotic . Your doctor may also drain a boil or abscess by making a small incision to let the pus out.
Doctors also prescribe oral antibiotics to treat staph infection in the body and on the skin. The antibiotic will vary depending on the type of infection. In severe cases of staph infection, doctors use IV antibiotics to kill the bacteria.
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How Are Staph Infections Treated
Most small staph skin infections can be treated at home:
- Soak the affected area in warm water or apply warm, moist washcloths. Use a cloth or towel only once when you soak or clean an area of infected skin. Then, wash them in soap and hot water and dry them fully in a clothes dryer.
- Put a heating pad or a hot water bottle to the skin for about 20 minutes, three or four times a day.
- Apply antibiotic ointment, if recommended by your doctor.
- Give pain relievers like acetaminophen or ibuprofen to ease pain until the infection goes away. Follow the package directions on how much to give and how often.
- Cover the skin with a clean dressing or bandage.
Treat a stye by using warm compresses over the eye three or four times a day. Always use a clean washcloth each time. Occasionally, a stye will need a topical antibiotic.
Teens who get a staph infection on skin areas that are normally shaved should stop shaving until the infection clears up. If they do have to shave the area, they should use a clean disposable razor or clean the electric razor after each use.
Your doctor may prescribe an oral antibiotic for a staph skin infection. Give it on schedule for as many days as directed. More serious staph infections might need to be treated in a hospital, and an abscess that doesn’t respond to home care might need to be drained.
To help prevent a staph infection from spreading to other parts of the body:
What Should I Know About Mrsa Treatments
Milder infections can be treated with oral antibiotics . More severe infections may require intravenous antibiotic treatment. It is very important to take all of the antibiotics exactly as your healthcare provider prescribes.
You should also call your provider if an infection doesnât start to clear up within a few days of taking a prescribed antibiotic. You may need to go to the hospital for stronger intravenous antibiotics.
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Common Treatments For Staph Infection And Prevention Tips
Staphylococcus bacteria cause staph infections. These bacteria are commonly present on the skin and in the nose of healthy individuals. Majority of times, they cause no illness or lead to minor skin infections. However, staph infections may become life-threatening if the bacteria enter your bloodstream, bones, joints, heart or lungs. A large number of healthy individuals are developing deadly staph infections. What is the treatment of staph infection?
What Is The Dosage For Mupirocin
For the treatment of impetigo, a small amount of the ointment is applied to the affected area, usually three times daily . The area may be covered with a sterile gauze dressing. If there is no improvement in 3-5 days the doctor should be contacted to re-examine the infected area.
For other skin infections, the cream is applied to the affected area 3 times a day for 10 days, and the doctor should be contacted as well if there is no improvement after 3-5 days.
When mupirocin is used for treating intranasal Staphylococcus aureus that are resistant to other antibiotics, patients who are age 12 years and older require the application of about half of the ointment from a single-use tube of ointment into one nostril and the other half into the other nostril. This treatment is repeated twice daily for 5 days. Currently, there is not enough information to recommend use of mupirocin for the treatment of intranasal Staphylococcus aureus in children younger than 12 years of age.
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Treating Staph Food Poisoning
Staph food poisoning is caused by toxins produced by the bacteria, not by the bacteria itself.
Symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps, typically develop within 30 minutes to eight hours of consuming a contaminated food, and are best treated by drinking fluids. If necessary, your doctor can prescribe anti-nausea medication, and severe illness may require intravenous fluids.
The toxins do not respond to antibiotics.
Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes
The key to managing MRSA infections is to prevent them in the first place. Over the years many guidelines have been issued, and most hospitals have a team of infectious disease experts as part of the hospital interprofessional team who perform surveillance and monitor for outbreaks of MRSA. Besides the standard precautions, the CDC recommends contact precautions. The patient should be in an isolated room if available everyone should gown and glove when coming into contact with the patient. The transport of MRSA patients should be minimized and dedicated medicated equipment should be used on them. Further, environmental measures like cleaning and disinfecting the room are important. In addition, the hospital must have a surveillance policy, when to remove a patient from isolation and report the infection to the state. Many states now make it mandatory to report all new MRSA cases. Finally, there should be a hospital committee that oversees the prescription of antibiotics and their indications and who can prescribe them.
Outcomes
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If My Health Care Provider Has Told Me That I Have An Antibiotic
Take the following steps to prevent the spread of antibiotic-resistant staph skin infection to others:
If you have questions about MRSA, please talk with your health care provider.
Top 5 Mrsa Antibiotic Therapies For Skin Infections
MRSA is now resistant to many types of antibiotics.
Below are the five commonly prescribed antibiotics for MRSA skin infections, which are commonly picked up in communities as community type MRSA or CA-MRSA.
1. Clindamycin
It has been successfully and widely used for the treatment of soft tissue and skin infections as well as bone, joint and abscesses caused by Staph and MRSA. MRSA is becoming increasingly resistant to clindamycin in the United States.
- Resistance: MRSA is becoming increasingly resistant to clindamycin in the United States.
- Side Effects and Precautions: Diarrhea is the most common side effect, and it can promote C. difficile overgrowth infections in the colon. C. difficile infections appear to occur more frequently with clindamycin than other antibiotics. Other side-effects are pseudomembranous colitis, nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, skin rashes and more.
2. Linezolid
Folliculitis is a common type of MRSA skin infection often treated with oral antibiotics.
Approved for use in the year 2000, Linezolid is FDA approved for treating soft tissue and skin infections, including those caused by MRSA. It is often prescribed for CA-MRSA pneumonia and in particular, HA-MRSA pneumonia. Its commonly prescribed to people of all ages and is one of the most expensive treatment options, for a single course costing upwards of $1-2,000 for 20 tablets.
3. Mupirocin
4. Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole
5. Tetracyclines
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Prognosis For Mild And Severe Staph Infections
Most minor skin infections have a very good prognosis. But infections that are caused by drug-resistant bacteria, turn severe, or develop into conditions like or pneumonia can be deadly.
Each year, about 90,000 people in the United States get an invasive MRSA infection, and about 20,000 die.
According to the World Health Organization , sepsis potentially causes 6 million deaths worldwide every year. While any infection can lead to sepsis, bacterial infections are the most common cause.
Pneumonia kills about 50,000 people in the United States annually, although not all pneumonia is caused by staph bacteria.
Being aware of the symptoms of a staph infection, seeking help promptly, and following an effective treatment approach are the best ways to fight staph.
Check If You Have A Staph Skin Infection
Symptoms of a staph skin infection can include:
Read more about styes and conjunctivitis.
Redness affecting the skin or eyelids may be harder to see on darker or black skin.
Staph bacteria can also cause more serious infections, like blood poisoning and toxic shock syndrome. These are much less common than skin infections.
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How Do Staph Infections Spread
Staph bacteria can spread:
- when someone touches a contaminated surface
- from person to person, especially in group living situations . Usually this happens when people with skin infections share personal things like bed linens, towels, or clothing.
- from one area of their body to another, via dirty hands or fingernails
Warm, humid environments can contribute to staph infections, so excessive sweating can increase someone’s chances of developing an infection. People with skin problems like burns or eczema may be more likely to get staph skin infections.
Top 4 Antibiotic Treatments For Internal Or Severe Infections
Hospitalized patients with more complicated or severe forms of infections are often prescribed one of the following four antibiotics. These infections can include deep soft-tissue infections, surgical infections, major abscesses, wound infections and burn patients.
Oftentimes a broad-spectrum antibiotic is used in conjunction with the following antibiotics. Most options below use intravenous methods of delivering antibiotics into the body. A picc line may be used for prolonged treatment.
1. Intravenous Vancomycin
Vancomycin is often called an antibiotic of last resort for MRSA, though resistance against it has been growing. Vancomycin requires IV administration into a vein and can occasionally have severe side effects. Duration of treatment can last weeks to months. Tissue penetration is variable and it has limited penetration into bone. Its often prescribed for pneumonia .
- Resistance: Some strains of MRSA are now becoming resistant to Vancomycin, with one strain called VRSA .
- Side Effects and Precautions: Serious side effects can include ringing in ears, diarrhea, and hearing problems. Like most antibiotics, it can cause secondary infections like thrush or yeast infections. Because this medication is eliminated through the kidneys, it could cause kidney problems in the elderly or those with impaired kidney function.
2. Oral or Intravenous Linezolid
See the skin infection above for more info.
3. Intravenous Daptomycin
4. Oral or Intravenous Clindamycin
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Home Remedies For Skin Infections
Some home remedies that may be used to help symptoms of staph infections include:
- Warm Compresses Placing a warm washcloth over boils for about 10 minutes at a time may help them burst.
- Cool Compresses Using cool compresses may reduce pain due to infections such as septic arthritis.
- Pain Relievers Taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen for minor infections can decrease pain.
- Topical Antibiotic Ointment Over-the-counter topical antibiotic ointment can help to prevent minor wound infections or speed their healing. But if a wound is getting worse rather than better, see a medical provider for care.
- Alternative Remedies Some people apply substances with reported antimicrobial properties, such as tea tree oil, apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, eucalyptus essential oil, oregano essential oil, and others to skin infections to help them heal. But there is limited and for some products, no evidence that these are effective against staph bacteria. In addition, essential oils and other substances can be irritating to the skin if applied in a concentrated form.
What Can I Do To Help Relieve Symptoms Of Staph Infection
It is important to see your doctor if you think you might have a staph infection. To relieve the symptoms of staph infection on the skin, you should clean the affected area with soap and water. Cold compresses and over-the-counter pain relievers may ease the discomfort of skin infection.
In cases of food poisoning, drink plenty of liquids while you are recovering to reduce your risk of dehydration. Massage and warm compresses can relieve the symptoms of mastitis.
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Recovery Time And Outlook
The recovery time for a staph infection depends on the type and severity of the infection, as well as the strength of a persons immune system.
Food poisoning staph will usually pass within 2448 hours, but it may take 3 days or longer to feel well.
A staph infection at the surface of the skin may heal with just a few days of treatment. However, if a large sore or wound has developed, it may require several weeks of treatment or longer.
If a systemic staph infection develops in the heart, lungs, bloodstream, or another organ system, treatment can take weeks to months. In rare cases, these staph infections can lead to sepsis, a dangerous condition in which the immune system has an exaggerated response to infection.
