Relative with MRSA in Lungs

RebekahsMom · Jul 28, 2009

See, I knew that I probably shoudn't have posted that I smoke because I just knew someone was going to make a nasty comment on it. And the issue that was being discussed in the first place was MRSA in the lungs. Pneumonia was brought up and was said that it was contagious when it isn't. I have been in the health care field for more than 20 years, and although I am not a doctor or nurse, I have picked up on a thing or two. BTW, my husband is a nurse, so yes, we do know a thing or two about health. We also know what happens to a smokers lungs, and if you ask around, I'll bet you will find a lot of people in the health care field smoke as well. It is a stressful job, and that is our release. Why have the stressful job? Because we care about the people we take care of.

Even though I smoke (for almost 30 years), my lungs are relatively healthy and I am confident that I will be around for a long while to help my daughter through this. My husband has watched 2 of his children die due to things other than the effects of his smoking. A son had to decide whether he wanted to eat or breathe. His choice was to breathe and stopped eating. It was because he had MD. A daughter was run over by a drunk driver as she rode her tricycle in the front yard. Yes, he smokes, also. Like I said, unless you know me, please don't criticise me.

RebekahsMom · Jul 28, 2009

See, I knew that I probably shoudn't have posted that I smoke because I just knew someone was going to make a nasty comment on it. And the issue that was being discussed in the first place was MRSA in the lungs. Pneumonia was brought up and was said that it was contagious when it isn't. I have been in the health care field for more than 20 years, and although I am not a doctor or nurse, I have picked up on a thing or two. BTW, my husband is a nurse, so yes, we do know a thing or two about health. We also know what happens to a smokers lungs, and if you ask around, I'll bet you will find a lot of people in the health care field smoke as well. It is a stressful job, and that is our release. Why have the stressful job? Because we care about the people we take care of.

Even though I smoke (for almost 30 years), my lungs are relatively healthy and I am confident that I will be around for a long while to help my daughter through this. My husband has watched 2 of his children die due to things other than the effects of his smoking. A son had to decide whether he wanted to eat or breathe. His choice was to breathe and stopped eating. It was because he had MD. A daughter was run over by a drunk driver as she rode her tricycle in the front yard. Yes, he smokes, also. Like I said, unless you know me, please don't criticise me.

RebekahsMom · Jul 28, 2009

See, I knew that I probably shoudn't have posted that I smoke because I just knew someone was going to make a nasty comment on it. And the issue that was being discussed in the first place was MRSA in the lungs. Pneumonia was brought up and was said that it was contagious when it isn't. I have been in the health care field for more than 20 years, and although I am not a doctor or nurse, I have picked up on a thing or two. BTW, my husband is a nurse, so yes, we do know a thing or two about health. We also know what happens to a smokers lungs, and if you ask around, I'll bet you will find a lot of people in the health care field smoke as well. It is a stressful job, and that is our release. Why have the stressful job? Because we care about the people we take care of.

Even though I smoke (for almost 30 years), my lungs are relatively healthy and I am confident that I will be around for a long while to help my daughter through this. My husband has watched 2 of his children die due to things other than the effects of his smoking. A son had to decide whether he wanted to eat or breathe. His choice was to breathe and stopped eating. It was because he had MD. A daughter was run over by a drunk driver as she rode her tricycle in the front yard. Yes, he smokes, also. Like I said, unless you know me, please don't criticise me.

RebekahsMom · Jul 28, 2009

See, I knew that I probably shoudn't have posted that I smoke because I just knew someone was going to make a nasty comment on it. And the issue that was being discussed in the first place was MRSA in the lungs. Pneumonia was brought up and was said that it was contagious when it isn't. I have been in the health care field for more than 20 years, and although I am not a doctor or nurse, I have picked up on a thing or two. BTW, my husband is a nurse, so yes, we do know a thing or two about health. We also know what happens to a smokers lungs, and if you ask around, I'll bet you will find a lot of people in the health care field smoke as well. It is a stressful job, and that is our release. Why have the stressful job? Because we care about the people we take care of.

Even though I smoke (for almost 30 years), my lungs are relatively healthy and I am confident that I will be around for a long while to help my daughter through this. My husband has watched 2 of his children die due to things other than the effects of his smoking. A son had to decide whether he wanted to eat or breathe. His choice was to breathe and stopped eating. It was because he had MD. A daughter was run over by a drunk driver as she rode her tricycle in the front yard. Yes, he smokes, also. Like I said, unless you know me, please don't criticise me.

RebekahsMom · Jul 28, 2009

See, I knew that I probably shoudn't have posted that I smoke because I just knew someone was going to make a nasty comment on it. And the issue that was being discussed in the first place was MRSA in the lungs. Pneumonia was brought up and was said that it was contagious when it isn't. I have been in the health care field for more than 20 years, and although I am not a doctor or nurse, I have picked up on a thing or two. BTW, my husband is a nurse, so yes, we do know a thing or two about health. We also know what happens to a smokers lungs, and if you ask around, I'll bet you will find a lot of people in the health care field smoke as well. It is a stressful job, and that is our release. Why have the stressful job? Because we care about the people we take care of.
 
 Even though I smoke (for almost 30 years), my lungs are relatively healthy and I am confident that I will be around for a long while to help my daughter through this. My husband has watched 2 of his children die due to things other than the effects of his smoking. A son had to decide whether he wanted to eat or breathe. His choice was to breathe and stopped eating. It was because he had MD. A daughter was run over by a drunk driver as she rode her tricycle in the front yard. Yes, he smokes, also. Like I said, unless you know me, please don't criticise me.

Ratatosk · Jul 28, 2009

Being that DS' cf doctor is also ID, we asked specifically a year ago about his grandparents being in contact with someone who has MRSA pneumonia, who was told that she'd always have it, "but wasn't contagious to anyone". Knowing the risks to DS if he were in close contact, we went one step further to see if his grandparents should even consider visiting them. Especially with my FIL's chronic sinus issues. His CF doctor indicated that it probably wasn't a good idea. So to clarify -- the person with MRSA isn't a close relative -- my inlaws decided it's not worth risking DS' health.

But now we have someone with an autoimmune disorder who WILL be attending the family reunion and then plans to visit my inlaws for a few weeks. Being that we have people on this site who've had similar conundrums -- parents of people wcf whose children have different bugs, siblings who don't want their sibling to culture/catch MRSA from them, grandparents w/mrsa who are being cared for by parents of a person wcf... I'm wondering if certain precautions should be taken -- we'll already avoid the inlaws home...

Ratatosk · Jul 28, 2009

Being that DS' cf doctor is also ID, we asked specifically a year ago about his grandparents being in contact with someone who has MRSA pneumonia, who was told that she'd always have it, "but wasn't contagious to anyone". Knowing the risks to DS if he were in close contact, we went one step further to see if his grandparents should even consider visiting them. Especially with my FIL's chronic sinus issues. His CF doctor indicated that it probably wasn't a good idea. So to clarify -- the person with MRSA isn't a close relative -- my inlaws decided it's not worth risking DS' health.

But now we have someone with an autoimmune disorder who WILL be attending the family reunion and then plans to visit my inlaws for a few weeks. Being that we have people on this site who've had similar conundrums -- parents of people wcf whose children have different bugs, siblings who don't want their sibling to culture/catch MRSA from them, grandparents w/mrsa who are being cared for by parents of a person wcf... I'm wondering if certain precautions should be taken -- we'll already avoid the inlaws home...

Ratatosk · Jul 28, 2009

Being that DS' cf doctor is also ID, we asked specifically a year ago about his grandparents being in contact with someone who has MRSA pneumonia, who was told that she'd always have it, "but wasn't contagious to anyone". Knowing the risks to DS if he were in close contact, we went one step further to see if his grandparents should even consider visiting them. Especially with my FIL's chronic sinus issues. His CF doctor indicated that it probably wasn't a good idea. So to clarify -- the person with MRSA isn't a close relative -- my inlaws decided it's not worth risking DS' health.

But now we have someone with an autoimmune disorder who WILL be attending the family reunion and then plans to visit my inlaws for a few weeks. Being that we have people on this site who've had similar conundrums -- parents of people wcf whose children have different bugs, siblings who don't want their sibling to culture/catch MRSA from them, grandparents w/mrsa who are being cared for by parents of a person wcf... I'm wondering if certain precautions should be taken -- we'll already avoid the inlaws home...

Ratatosk · Jul 28, 2009

Being that DS' cf doctor is also ID, we asked specifically a year ago about his grandparents being in contact with someone who has MRSA pneumonia, who was told that she'd always have it, "but wasn't contagious to anyone". Knowing the risks to DS if he were in close contact, we went one step further to see if his grandparents should even consider visiting them. Especially with my FIL's chronic sinus issues. His CF doctor indicated that it probably wasn't a good idea. So to clarify -- the person with MRSA isn't a close relative -- my inlaws decided it's not worth risking DS' health.

But now we have someone with an autoimmune disorder who WILL be attending the family reunion and then plans to visit my inlaws for a few weeks. Being that we have people on this site who've had similar conundrums -- parents of people wcf whose children have different bugs, siblings who don't want their sibling to culture/catch MRSA from them, grandparents w/mrsa who are being cared for by parents of a person wcf... I'm wondering if certain precautions should be taken -- we'll already avoid the inlaws home...

Ratatosk · Jul 28, 2009

Being that DS' cf doctor is also ID, we asked specifically a year ago about his grandparents being in contact with someone who has MRSA pneumonia, who was told that she'd always have it, "but wasn't contagious to anyone". Knowing the risks to DS if he were in close contact, we went one step further to see if his grandparents should even consider visiting them. Especially with my FIL's chronic sinus issues. His CF doctor indicated that it probably wasn't a good idea. So to clarify -- the person with MRSA isn't a close relative -- my inlaws decided it's not worth risking DS' health.
 
 But now we have someone with an autoimmune disorder who WILL be attending the family reunion and then plans to visit my inlaws for a few weeks. Being that we have people on this site who've had similar conundrums -- parents of people wcf whose children have different bugs, siblings who don't want their sibling to culture/catch MRSA from them, grandparents w/mrsa who are being cared for by parents of a person wcf... I'm wondering if certain precautions should be taken -- we'll already avoid the inlaws home...

Littlemiss · Jul 28, 2009

About 20% of the general population is colonised with MRSA. As I have worked in a hospital, I was advised to never see people with MRSA chest infection or infection anywhere else with MRSA. Basic hygeine (ie handwashing) is the best thing you can do to prevent contracting it otherwise.

If it was my relative with MRSA I would avoid contact or visiting their house.

There are different types of pneumonia, bacterial, viral etc. It is the infection that is contagious, not the pneumonia, but a pwcf should stay away from someone with pneumonia so they don't get the infection that caused the pneumonia. Having said that, I have been vaccinated with the pneumnococcal (sp?) vaccination which is for pneumonia, so I assume there are some types of penumonia that are directly contagious.

AJ

Littlemiss · Jul 28, 2009

About 20% of the general population is colonised with MRSA. As I have worked in a hospital, I was advised to never see people with MRSA chest infection or infection anywhere else with MRSA. Basic hygeine (ie handwashing) is the best thing you can do to prevent contracting it otherwise.

If it was my relative with MRSA I would avoid contact or visiting their house.

There are different types of pneumonia, bacterial, viral etc. It is the infection that is contagious, not the pneumonia, but a pwcf should stay away from someone with pneumonia so they don't get the infection that caused the pneumonia. Having said that, I have been vaccinated with the pneumnococcal (sp?) vaccination which is for pneumonia, so I assume there are some types of penumonia that are directly contagious.

AJ

Littlemiss · Jul 28, 2009

About 20% of the general population is colonised with MRSA. As I have worked in a hospital, I was advised to never see people with MRSA chest infection or infection anywhere else with MRSA. Basic hygeine (ie handwashing) is the best thing you can do to prevent contracting it otherwise.

If it was my relative with MRSA I would avoid contact or visiting their house.

There are different types of pneumonia, bacterial, viral etc. It is the infection that is contagious, not the pneumonia, but a pwcf should stay away from someone with pneumonia so they don't get the infection that caused the pneumonia. Having said that, I have been vaccinated with the pneumnococcal (sp?) vaccination which is for pneumonia, so I assume there are some types of penumonia that are directly contagious.

AJ

Littlemiss · Jul 28, 2009

About 20% of the general population is colonised with MRSA. As I have worked in a hospital, I was advised to never see people with MRSA chest infection or infection anywhere else with MRSA. Basic hygeine (ie handwashing) is the best thing you can do to prevent contracting it otherwise.

If it was my relative with MRSA I would avoid contact or visiting their house.

There are different types of pneumonia, bacterial, viral etc. It is the infection that is contagious, not the pneumonia, but a pwcf should stay away from someone with pneumonia so they don't get the infection that caused the pneumonia. Having said that, I have been vaccinated with the pneumnococcal (sp?) vaccination which is for pneumonia, so I assume there are some types of penumonia that are directly contagious.

AJ

Littlemiss · Jul 28, 2009

About 20% of the general population is colonised with MRSA. As I have worked in a hospital, I was advised to never see people with MRSA chest infection or infection anywhere else with MRSA. Basic hygeine (ie handwashing) is the best thing you can do to prevent contracting it otherwise.
 
 If it was my relative with MRSA I would avoid contact or visiting their house.
 
 There are different types of pneumonia, bacterial, viral etc. It is the infection that is contagious, not the pneumonia, but a pwcf should stay away from someone with pneumonia so they don't get the infection that caused the pneumonia. Having said that, I have been vaccinated with the pneumnococcal (sp?) vaccination which is for pneumonia, so I assume there are some types of penumonia that are directly contagious.
 
 AJ

Jeana · Jul 28, 2009