Any tips for getting MRSA out of my house,and away from my family?

Joyce - posted on 03/06/2013

Hi, my 17 year old daughter was diagnosed with MRSA boil on her arm, by her pediatrician. It started out as a miniscule blemish and within a few weeks, it look like a boil subcutaneously. Knowing too MUCH at times(I just finished 2 surgeries for colon cancer, and 12 rounds of chemotherapy)I took her immediately to her pediatrician(I have known for 30 years). She said it looked like CA-MRSA for she sees so very much of it anymore in her practice. She didn't want to excise the boil or test it. She is rather LOW KEY. She put her on Septra and a topical skin antibiotic(Bactrimyacin). My daughter is cryong non-stop, for she knows this is known as the "flesh eating bacteria". I hate her i-phone, she googled it on the way home.She thinks she will be losing her limbs to it. Should I take her to an Infectious Disease physician ?? It looks rather small now, but she also has a lymph node enlarged under the arm pit of the infected arm. She is a clean freak, as I am in our home. She goes to a pristine private Catholic school. Although, I realize staph is everywhere. I am so worried and concerned. She is such a sweet and kind soul, very spiritual. I need some other Mom's advice that has had a child or teen with the same. Thank-you.

Joanna - posted on 12/08/2009

My family of 8 has had 18 staph infections in the last year. Our two youngest children have severe eczema, and as a result usually alway have open sores or broken skin. The infectious disease doctors say that we will probably always have problems with MRSA because of this. I have recently started the bleach baths with my children and i do think that it is helping, although it has only been 2 weeks. I understand your frustration, Karen. I am no longer working outside of my home due to all of the illnesses my sons have had this past year. Our baby has had 11 infections this year, and seems to get more colds and other illnesses than normal, probably from all of the antibiotics that have been pumped into him. I think that leaving my job was probably the best choice for our family at this time. It does seem to help our son to keep him out of day care, and it is giving me more time to be vigilant about my cleaning routine. I did read today about someone who put rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and used that to disinfect parts of his house. Has anyone tried that?

Katie - posted on 03/21/2009

Hi Karen,

I just read all of the previous responses, and I have to ask...have you ever heard of Melaleuca? It is an International Wellness Company, that manufactures safer, more natural products. I switched all of my products (from cleaners, otc medicines & ointments to toothpaste, etc.) The Melaleuca Oil has so many amazing uses...It stops topical bacteria in its tracks so you have less possibility of infection, paving the way for faster healing. There are around 400 products that are all consumable/necessity products. I could go on forever, but couldn't do it justice in this little post. :) You should check out the website... www.melaleuca.com

Bleach is one of the most harmful things you could use to solve your problem. Not only is it incredibly toxic to inhale as you clean, but I wouldn't want to clean anything with it that my children would have access to or especially anything they could put in their mouth...even after diluting, there are so many harmful effects bleach can have. Our skin is a giant sponge, so the bleach absorbs into your skin & it goes into the bloodstream... also, I just looked at this website yesterday and it listed Lever soap as one of the top 5 most toxic soaps.

http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/05...

Isn't it amazing that these things are being recommended by doctors??? That's why I want to spread the word...There are safer, effective alternatives and I would love to get in touch with you to tell you more about this wonderful company. Everyone needs to know about it. I'm so glad someone cared enough to share it with me.



I hope this helps and I would love to talk more!



-Katie Naylor

www.yourfamilyfirst.com/naylor

dknaylor@wedeliverwellness.com

(951) 461-2320

Tiffany - posted on 03/20/2009

Hello Karen, I'm so sorry to hear that you are dealing with such a thing. If you haven't already, please check out the following Center for Disease Control site and follow the links based upon if you are dealing with a Healthcare-Associated MRSA or a Community-Associated MRSA. I hope this can be of some help for you and your family. Best wishes.

http://www.cdc.gov/NCIDOD/DHQP/ar_mrsa_p...

Karen - posted on 03/20/2009

Thank you for your help.

Lee Anne - posted on 03/19/2009

Which antibiotic is your husband on currently? My son has had MRSA infections, as have I, and the drug that seems to work the best is Septra (Sulfatrim is the generic name I think). If you aren't seeing obvious improvement in 48 hours on the antibiotic I"d call your doc ASAP.



I was wondering if you have been screened to see if you are colonized with the staph? That could be why you are having so much trouble ridding the germ from your house. If you are colonized you'll need to go through a kind of "detox" which involves antibiotics, and special prescription soap.



In the meantime, the only thing I can pass along is what the surgeon told us when he drained Andrew's last infection. (The MRSA invaded his chin and cheek. Within 24 hours the side of his face was twice it's normal size. The infection had to be surgically drained and he came home ith a drain stitched below his jawline to keep the wound draining.) The surgeon told us to add one tsp. of bleach to his bath every day for 4 weeks and use Lever 2000 soap ONLY. Also, every scrape, cut, etc. was to be washed with Lever 2000, have bacitracin applied to it and be covered.



Hope you find your solution!! Best of luck, I'll be thinking of you :)

Karen - posted on 03/18/2009

Thanks to all that helped in my families MRSA out break.Now do any of you have any ideas on helping my husband with MRSA of the eye????

Cristal - posted on 03/06/2009

Of course the first thing is to scrub everything down with a bleach water combo, then there is an ointment called Bactraban you can get a prescription for to put on any MRSA bumps that come up or really any bump or sore that they get to prevent MRSA from occuring.  There is also a pink colored scrub called Hibiclens (sp) you can bathe them in ,it smells like a hospital but worth it for sure we've dealt with it ALOT since I had my almost 4 yr old and it sucks.  It may or may not come back. There are several antibiotics that can be used to treat it. 

What sucks about MRSA is that is a naturally occuring "germ" on your skin and everyone carries it around on them.  It is just what your body does with the MRSA when it gets into a cut or wound.

Ashley - posted on 03/06/2009

i got staff infection numerous times before i got pregnant and while i was pregnant. my doctor told me once you get any kind of staph infection it will always come back because you are prone to get it now. no matter what i did i would get it. if you have open sores is the only way you will get it so when you have sores or cuts or anything like that you need to keep band aids and ointment on them to help keep them clean.

Joy - posted on 03/06/2009

Wow!  I'm really sorry you are having to deal with all that infection!  Is it possible for you to maybe arrange to stay with family or friends for a few days?  The reason I ask is that I'm wondering if maybe you're sorta "chasing your tail" with the disinfecting.  Like do you get one area disinfected and then by the time you get the rest of the house disinfected, the first area is infected again?  If you were to remove your family from the house for a few days, go in and totally scrub your house and have it disinfected ALL AT ONCE, then maybe it will be easier to get rid of.  Does that make sense?  It's been a long day for me, so I hope I just made sense there.  Just seems that you need to start with a "clean slate" and go from there.  Also, has your doctor given you any advice on how to get it under control?  Good luck and keep us posted.  Oh and I agree with the one woman who said something about hand sanitizer but be careful with it if you use it with young children.  I got an email recently about a little girl who ended up in the ER with alcohol poisoning (she was literally drunk) because when her daycare teacher put a dab of hand sanitizer in the little girl's hand, she licked her palm and ate the sanitizer instead of rubbing her hands together.  I checked it out on www.truthorfiction.com and it was actually true....so just be careful :)

Carolyn - posted on 03/06/2009

http://pediatrics.about.com/od/childhood...

To help get rid of a minor staph infection, you might want to try a warm compress soaked in vinegar or rubbing alcohol. Vinegar has been shown to have plenty of antimicrobial power, so much so that conscientious janitors are now cleaning public restrooms with it. But when you really want to make sure those staph bacteria are dead as hell, nothing beats good old rubbing alcohol. That's why hospitals have those cans of alcohol-based hand cleaner just laying around the place--it's almost 100% effective at killing bacteria.

Have you gotten new razors? 

http://home.roaddawgz.org/stories/view_a...

Give everyone garlic it is good for cleaning your blood.  Put it in food you cook, you could make garlic mashed potatoes

Beth - posted on 03/06/2009

Are you remembering to disenfect all the door knobs, light switches, handles you touch constantly?  Get new toothbrushes?  good luck.  Is this the strain that is resistant to abx?