staph

[amber682]

How come my sons doc doesn't treat him when he cultures for staph?
In fact, they only call and give me the results if he cultures for
something, and they don't even call if it is staph. And what's the
difference with mucoid or non-mucoid pseodomonas. Vinny cultured
for it once, took tobi and it hasn't shown up since, but i read
somewhere that it isn't considered gone until u haven't cultured
for it in like 3 years?? I feel like the docs are trying to ease me
into all of this, so they only tell me what I really need to know.
But I"m the kind of person that wants to read or hear or watch
everything I can get my hands on.  

 

[Kaitsmom]

Amber
I used to just sit there and listen to everything that the docs had to tell us. I never really asked any questions just did what i was told to care for my child. I am not like that anymore... It is a must.... I must learn everything i can about CF, after all CF is a big part of our lives. My daughters doctors and nurses sometimes tell me that i ask alot of questions, but i am like you i want to know. I have learned alot from this website and other sites about CF and i voice my concerns to the docs when i feel i need to and i want them to be honest with me, not just tell me what they think that i need to know... I need to know it all when it comes to my child.

Kaitsmom<img src="i/expressions/rose.gif" border="0">

 

[Ratatosk]

When we had our CF walk last may there were parents of a newly diagnosed infant who said their child cultured staph, but the doctors just told them not to worry about it, that they'd discuss it at the June CF Clinic appointment. The kid had cultured it in February. Do they NOT routinely do anything about staph? DS hasn't cultured it, but with other bugs -- pa and hib, they're usually pretty proactive about trying to get rid of it asap. L

 

[CFHockeyMom]

They typically only treat when you have flare up.

 

[NoExcuses]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>amber682</b></i>

How come my sons doc doesn't treat him when he cultures for staph?
In fact, they only call and give me the results if he cultures for
something, and they don't even call if it is staph. And what's the
difference with mucoid or non-mucoid pseodomonas. Vinny cultured
for it once, took tobi and it hasn't shown up since, but i read
somewhere that it isn't considered gone until u haven't cultured
for it in like 3 years?? I feel like the docs are trying to ease me
into all of this, so they only tell me what I really need to know.
But I"m the kind of person that wants to read or hear or watch
everything I can get my hands on.  </end quote></div>

Culturing a bug and having a flare up from a bug are two different things. Most CFers culture the same bugs over and over and over. It's difficult to get rid of them because of CF.

So, when flare up's occure, this is when treatment is necessary (fever, increased cough, decreased energy, high white blood cell count).

Difference between mucoid and non-mucoid is mucoid PA (or MPA) has a little tent around itself. Think of it like a tent when you go camping. It's a resistance mechanism used to protect the bacteria from antibiotics. MPA is more difficult to treat with antibiotics because of this protection mechanism.

Young CFers sometimes can get rid of PA if it's agressively treated right after it first shows up in a culture.

But sputum cultures are an in-exact science. Let's say your little one is coughing up mucous from the right upper lobe of his lungs. Whatever is in his right upper lobe will show up in the culture. If the PA is hanging out in his lower left lobe of his lungs, then the PA won't show up in that culture. So you may think the PA is gone, but it's really not.

If you have any more questions, please continue to ask <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[tammykrumrey]

My daughter cultured MRSA for about 2 years and we never treated it. It just didn't cause any problems. Lung function was in the 90's, x-rays look great, and her cough was not too bad. But this past May her cough increased dramatically, and her x-rays got worst and her PFT's dropped to 62%. Then she was admitted and put on two weeks of IV's. They said that she went from just culturing it, to being infected with it. But now she is back to her baseline. Not sure if the MRSA is gone because we have not given a culture yet. I guess we will find out next month.

 

[amber682]

Thank you all for replying! I knew pseudo could form a
"bio-film" which makes it harder to treat, I didn't know
thats what mucoid or non-mucoid meant. thanks for clarifying.
And I actually spoke to the cf nurse at the clinic today about the
staph thing. Sometimes Vinny cultures for it, sometimes he doesn't.
If he's showing no symptoms they don't give him any meds for it.
Anytime he's grown it on a culture, he has had no symptoms, so they
leave it alone.<br>
P.S. He is only 18 mos. so when I say culture I mean a swab in the
throat. He doesn't do the coughing up culture yet. I don't know
much about that or when they'll start it.

 

[NoExcuses]

a throat swab is a swab stuck down the throat to induce coughing (choking).

so whether your'e doing a throat swab or a traditional sputum culture with coughing on your own, the results are the same <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[JRPandTJP]

Our son is 2 and has culture staph every time since dx. Our clinic says they don't treat for staph unless symptoms come (ie weight issues without anything else going on, cough with no cold or flu, lingering cough after cold/flu). It just gives them something to go on in terms of antibiotic selection should they develop the symptoms I mentioned. Like AMy said is it in-exact and staph is everywhere...could just be in their mouth, doesn't mean for sure it is in the lungs as I understand. I believe some clinics do treat it but this is probably a more aggressive approach than what most seem to do from what I read on this site.

Now first sign of pseudomonas and they treated immediately...no sign since he culured it and was treated with inhaled TOBI. We did start GSH therapy after he cultured, so that may be helping alot as well. Some people find they can get clear cultures after GSH is started (the CFF is doing to clinical trial on it right now for dosing of oral and affects of inhaled GSH). Can't wait until the studies are out to see what results are.

Jody

 

[charl72]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote><i>Originally posted by: <b>amy</b></i> a throat swab is a swab
stuck down the throat to induce coughing (choking). so whether
your'e doing a throat swab or a traditional sputum culture with
coughing on your own, the results are the same <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"></end quote></div><br>
<br>
I thought that a sputum culture was more accurate than a throat
swab?

 

[Jane]

I believe this is true. Coughed up mucus, coming from lower in the airways will have more to see than stuff hanging out in the throat. Yes, swabbing the throat causes coughing, but they usually swab the throat, then you cough. The cough itself is not helpful for producing measurable mucus, unless they take a second swab after the cough.

 

[NoExcuses]

When I had throat swabs, it was mean to induce coughing and to pick up whatever I coughed up while coughing is induced. This was years ago, as I am 25 now, so maybe things have changed.