? about culturing Staph

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anonymous

New member
Hi everyone,

A mum i have met, due to the fact that both of our children have CF mentioned to me today that her baby has been culturing staph five times already. She has administered anti biotics, but that hasn't helped clear the staph.
I was wondering, WHY?

and

Do any of you have any tips/ideas as to what can help rid her of the staph!
I just want to help her any way i can,and since all of you on this site are soooo helpful, understanding, and intelligent. I thought you could help me, help her.

Sorry, if my post doesn't make sence. I'm sooooo tired my baby is also sick with the flu, and we have her clinic appoint tomorrow morning.

Good night and thankyou<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">
 
E

eli

New member
oops, sorry forgot to log in. That was me!

Thanks Eli<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">
 
M

Marjolein

New member
I cultured staph when i was younger and am on Flucloxaciline (antibiotic) now, as long as i can remember, to keep it away, and that works. I never cultured Staph again. I talked about this a few times before with people i know from the US and it's trange because nobody in the US knows Flucloxaciline.. But i know people from the UK get it too.. We tried to find online, if there is a different name for it, but couldn't find it..

I can't help with the question why the antibiotics the baby got didn't help. Maybe that Staph was resistent to that antibiotic. But i'd think doctors know that from cultures..

I hope they can find something else for the baby!

Good luck!

xxx, Marjolein
 
L

Landy

New member
I culture MRSA (methacillian resistant staph-spelling may not be correct<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif" border="0">) and I don't really plan on getting rid of it unless some miracle drug is developed specifically for MRSA. From what I understand once you have MRSA it's next to impossible to get rid of.
Do you think this child does have MRSA or just plain staph? When I was little I cultured regualar staph & was able to get rid of it.
 
J

JazzysMom

New member
I have cultured staph for about 2 years. It isnt a "problem" for me nor is it MRSA so we dont worry unless it actually is the bacteria causing my flareups!
 
A

anonymous

New member
Hello - - I haven't posted here very often. I would suggest to your friend to talk with the Dr. about checking into a resistent strain of staph. MRSA can be treated with different types of antibiotics than the standard antibiotics they may be prescribing to treat the suseptible (non-MRSA) staph. Some staph bacteria are resistant to antibiotics. MRSA is a type of staph that is resistant to antibiotics called beta-lactams. Beta-lactam antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin.

Or assumme that this is normal flora at this point. Which can come and go depending on different times samples are taken. Does the child show any symptoms of an infection? If not, then I would assumme that this is part of his/her normal flora for her cultures.

Methicillin Resistant Staph aureus tends to be a hospital acquired bacteria though there is not a current solid knowledge as to how this is transmitted from one patient to the next (direct contact, airbourne - though both are likely). This is common with skin infections/ burn patients for the average population, and common with CF patients. It can be acquired from the hospital, as I already noted, but also from unclean nebulizer set-ups and possibly from the increased use of antibiotics or not completing a prescriptions' allowed dosages and durations. I am assumming that the mother is correctly giving all of the dosages and not missing any days of treatment. This is good practice for any antibiotic administration.

Dr.'s/ labs are able to test a culture/sputum sample against different antibiotics in order to determine suseptibility or resistance. This is how they ID MRSA. It is possible to have a variable resistance, it is normally listed as MSSA (Meth. Sensitive Staph aureus) which means that the antibiotic is effective, but not the best. In the US, they tend to prescribe vancomycin if it appears to be a resistent Staph. aureus. My older brother was having health problems for a fair amount of months without knowing the cause. His PFT's were steadily declining. Finally 9 months later, they ID'ed MRSA (he was identified as having MSensitive SA prior to that time). Vanco was administered through IV and within two days his PFT's jumped up 20%. Sometimes, if technicians aren't looking for the MRSA, it can be missed.

There is a link to view additional website listed within this webpage. There is a woman named Norma who is a 41 yr. old with CF, nurse, who has a lot of valuable information. I am also included here link below.

<a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/normap/CF.htm
">http://www3.nbnet.nb.ca/normap/CF.htm
</a>
This will cover MRSA and other Staphylococcus aureus info in great detail. It is a great site that I have referenced often in the past for many different reasons.

Good luck and I hope your baby is feeling better.

-Point (28 yr old F/CF)
 
A

anonymous

New member
Thank's everyone.
Marjolein, she too was on the Flocloxaciline to treat her staph. Here in Australia, they lkie to put them on antibiotics from birth to 3yrs just as a preventative. But she still developed the staph. i quess nothing is 100%.
You also might be right about her staph being reistant to the fluclox. She has now been prescribed, somthing else.

Lynda- i think its just plain staph, but i will mention MRSA to mum, just to make her aware if she already isn't.

Also thanks to anon for your helpful info and link.

Sean, you mention keep away from hospital. She only goes into hosp, for her clinic visits once every 2months. So its not all that often. We don't know where she could have got it from. But its inevetable that the kids will get it no matter hoe cautiouse you are.

Thanks Again
ELI<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
 
F

Faust

New member
When I said "Stay away from the hospital", I meant being admitted. I don't mean checkups. And no, Staph doesn't mean you "Will get it anyways regardless". Pseudo is more along that lines. Don't be a freak for pseudo, it's nearly 100% guaranteed for every cystic to get. I've never met a CF older than say mid to late 20's who didnt have pseudo. Of course it is possible, but because pseudo is litterally EVERYWHERE, on EVERY surface we touch, and in TONS of foods we consume, I put it up there with winning the lottery, but in the other direction. It's possible to not get it, if you live in a sterile bubble like environment, but in all reality, you will get it.


Staph doesn't have to be that way. Staph can also infect you in many different ways, but one of the most likely ways is being admitted to the hospital, and being in that oh so lovely isolation room. It is standard practice now where I go to be isolated in the room. Supposedly it's for our own good. And so we won't pass on anything potentially freaky to CF's and other immunosuppresed individuals (hence why we have to wear the mask outside out rooms). Guess what? You are in a room that is just thriving with REALLY freaky mean bugs. Real hospital sanitation has taken a major backseat with budget cuts. It sucked before (to sterilize rooms), now it's totally laughable.

Most CF's are in such places for 1-4 weeks (i'm usually a 2 max, most likely 7-10 days). The remote is totally infested with crazy bugs, the handrails of the bed are the same, the entire bathroom is crawling with everything nasty you can imagine, the walls, the dresser, and everything else is just partying down on a microbiology level. Guess what we do when we live in such a place for more than a day or two (when the immediate paranoia wears off)? That's right, we use the remote, and possibly pick our teeth/lips/eyes, etc...We rub our hands on the beds handrail and then do the same. We will eventually forget and lay our toothbrush down on the bare metal area of the sink area. The list is endless. Pseudo is guaranteed to get you, but due to how things are, only staph and some others are generally avoidable. I know indemnity policies are nice and all for $$$ reasons, but if you can, stay home and do IV's. MUCH safer.
 
A

anonymous

New member
Thank's for the input Sean, i wasn't aware that staph and pseudo were diff in that way, of contracting the bugs.

Anyway today, my daughter had her clinic visit and was seen by a new cosultant from England, that is now practicing at her clinic. I found him to be very intelligent and diplomatic when speaking to him.
Back to my point he stated that in Denmark, they put people into hospital on iv antibiotcs for 2weeks every 3months9that's every patient with cf).
They also seem to have the lowest rates of severly affectted people, ie bugs, lung damage and overall health.
Personally, i think that method is harsh but i quess if its saving there lives than its a good thing.
He also mentioned how they deal with cf in other countries, and it kind of worried me to see how different all of our doctors practice things. Even the cf clinic half an hour away from ours, is doing thnigs differnetly.
So how do we know, who is right, who knows better. etc..

I was just wondering what your thoughts were on this!

Thanks
Eli
 
A

anonymous

New member
OOPS forgot to log in and forgot to mention, that our hospital as yet does not allow home iv's. That is our debate at the moment.

Eli<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">
 
T

thelizardqueen

New member
Personally I'm a huge advocate of not going in for tune ups if they are not needed. My main reason for this, is that I would be worried about resistance to medications. Whats going to happen when someone gets really sick and needs to go in for IVs, but they've built up a resistance from years of unneeded tuneups?
 
C

catboogie

New member
eli,

i just watched a web cast from the cystic fibrosis foundation website about stopping the spread of germs. it tells about the different kinds of pathogens and how they can spread differently. it is very informative and may help you understand more about this.

laura
 
E

EnergyGal

New member
I agree with Liz about avoiding tune ups. Whenever my cf doctor told me it would be a good idea for a tune up, I would tell her to give me two weeks and then if I still sound that way, I will gladly have a tune up. Most of the time, I would go home and have three to four treatments and after two weeks she could not believe what she heard. I escaped many clean outs this way. I know that IV's work but for me they were just a temporary thing. You would feel good for two weeks then the stuff would just come back. I figured that I would only use the IV's for the times I needed it most. Thankfully, that worked as when I needed my transplant I was very sensitive to most antibiotics.

Sometimes I just got sick and tired of being sick and tired and took action with my own extra therapy.
 
T

thelizardqueen

New member
I'm one who will try oral antibiotics, then inhaled antibiotics, and then I would follow up with IVs. Thankfully, I have only needed an IV once in my life, and that was 10 years ago. This means that 10 years from now, IVs will still be an option for me without worrying about whether my bacteria has built up a resistance to them from over use.
 
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