Here is an astounding article that makes the case for the new terrible and resistant staph.
I was treating resistant staph when I was a lot younger. They are apparently living in a bubble?
Methicillin Resistant Staph is old news.
http://www.universityherald.com/articles/6264/20131217/deadly-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-mrsa-is-a-public-health-threat.htm
Last year I treated dozens of cases, since I work at an Army base and take care of a jail.
There seems to be a disconnect.
I will say that we think it’s a result of antibiotics for kids and we treat in my world with Bactrim/Septra double strength twice a day for a week and it works well.
When we are distressed with what we see, we bring out the clindamycin.
The medical literature and my experience says that incising and draining the abscesses is usually curative, not requiring antibiotics.
If the family has a problem with recurring staph infections probably worthwhile reducing carrier rate by treating the noses of the members with antibiotic ointment.
John, if antibiotics do NOT solve the infection, and other inflammatory – and life-threatening, reactions set in, then IV C is the next step.
I have treated dozens of cases of resistant staph because we see it a lot in the jail and the military–the military ones usually are more advanced when we see them, and often require incision and drainage and there is good evidence that antibiotics are not needed if you are treating an abscess with I and D. Also little evidence that packing is necessary. I don’t pack em–hurts too much, but I put a little wick in the opening to keep it draining.
Early cases of MRSA are common in jail–you might call it the staph spider, since they always report it as a spider bite.
Inmates are obsessed about their skin for some reason so any red spots or sore spots get reported early.
Early infections respond well to antibiotics and warm wet compresses before they get to be abscesses. Although I treat a lot of MRSA in the jail, rarely do they require incision and drainage. Bactrim/Septra (trimethoprim sulfamethoxazole) in heroic doses is effective still, clindamycin as an alternative. Antibiotics do work. In sepsis antibiotics are life saving, but septic shock involves some other inflammatory reactive processes that complicate things.
Biggles, I can’t recall all the treatments the heroic rugby player received at the hospital, but I am inclined to believe that the chlorine bath was what helped him most. Antibiotics did not work.
Bob, Septicemia is no respecter of hygiene – it can squeeze through the soap-suds. And, yes, I believe Pauling WAS on the right track – at least deserved a bit more respect. No one is 100% right. All scientists make mistakes. But Pauling was a very bright chap and deserves another look. Despite his detractors. And Gene – a rugby scratch or a garden scratch can turn not just to an abscess but to septicaemia – and if the antibiotics don’t work? You die.
Ran across this “superbug” on Drudge http://news.yahoo.com/39-superbug-39-bacteria-widespread-u-chicken-consumer-110312717–sector.html
It looks like a problem, but somewhere down in the article, it suggested that you properly cook the food. How many of these superbugs spread because of failure of basic hygiene?
Wired magazine has an article covering IBM polymer advances that have been useful in sapping the superbug. Isn’t real science great.
A disconnect, indeed. Thirty years ago, kids were making drug-resistant bacteria under the auspices of Sci.Am.
http://jesseenterprises.net/amsci/1994/06/1994-06-body.html
To throw in a data point, my son-in-law recently had a bad abscess in his knee and a few smaller ones elsewhere on his body. He had to be hospitalised for it. He believes the large one arose from a scratch he had got while playing rugby.
Must be a dull day, it’s been around for years. I believe it was one of the worries along with every skin disease known to man when my son wrestled 20 years ago. I had it a few years ago and don’t go to the usual places where it can be contracted. Incisions, Bactrim horsepills and referred to a surgeon.
Vitamin C? Maybe Pauling was right.
Okay. And if all else fails, and the patient is deteriorating fast – guess what you do? You use IV sodium ascorbate, following the established protocol. Otherwise, you die. I know. I have seen it.