MRSA: a patient's view

by Tara Smith     Department: Science & Society

I've written previously about Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterium--once found almost solely in hospitals--that is increasingly infecting people who've never even set foot in a hospital or health care facility. This bacterium typically causes skin infections. Sometimes these are mild; other times they can be very severe, and even deadly.

As the "resistant" portion of its name suggests, MRSA is a difficult infection to treat. In addition to methicillin resistance, the bacterium is frequently resistant to several other common antibiotics. In the worst case, it's essentially untreatable; resistant to almost everything physicians can throw at it. And even when an infection clears up, it might not stay healed, as one patient's story shows.

The infection initially started out as a reddened pimple on the patient's hindquarters. When she finally had it treated at the emergency room, it was almost impossible for her to sit down without pain. The doctors drained the abcess and treated her with antibiotics, but the infection returned a few weeks later:

Both spots healed up, and for three weeks I was fine. But then two months later, in September, it happened again: hot, red spots on my perineum and labia. I was really frustrated. I couldn't believe it had come back. Before long I was back at the ER for another draining and culture. More MRSA. More antibiotics, this time something called Bactrim.

At the advice of her physicians, she tried showering with antibacterial soap; washing her sheets every day in hot water and bleach; decolonizing her nose (where staph typically live) with an antibiotic ointment; even wearing different types of underwear. However, nothing has done the trick, and no one is sure why her infection keeps recurring. She finishes by noting that:

I can't imagine what else I could do about MRSA. Except warn you.

Unfortunately, the truth is that there isn't much you can do once you get it, so avoiding infection in the first place is key. It's trite, but it works: wash your hands frequently, especially when using public spaces. If you can't wash, use hand sanitizers. Wipe down equipment before you use it at the gym (and when you're done for others!) Surveys show that MRSA is still relatively rare in the population, but it's increasing; a few additional seconds of hand-washing is a small inconvenience to better protect yourself.

Tags: disease, MRSA, patient, staph