I developed MRSA after I scratched what I thought was a pimple on my right buttock. Two days later, I got this huge lump at the area where the pimple was. The following day, I went to our Immediate Medical Center and was started on Bactrim. I was told to hot-pack the lesion. After I hot-packed the lesion, the infection spread like wild fire. The following day, I was unable to walk because my entire buttock was purple, full of pus, and extremely painful. My primary care doctor sent me right to the hospital where my surgeon performed emergency surgery on me. I now have an 8-inch surgical incision that has been laid open so it can heal from the inside out. The wound is now about 3/4 inch deep and 2 inches wide since it has healed somewhat thanks to the "Wound Pump" I will be wearing for at least another three weeks. I was hospitalized and given massive doses of antibiotics and will be on antibiotics for another three to four weeks, or more if necessary. My surgeon told me that he had seen many cases of this sort, but none that compared to the amount of necrotic tissue and pus he had to remove from me.
I woke one morning with an itchy area along my jaw line. Within four days it was large; it appeared to be a "pimple - gone BAD!" It was too sore to touch or try to pop. I saw the doctor on day 5. He numbed the area, opened and drained the sore and took a sample. Due to my sensitivity to sulfa-based drugs, he prescribed Ciprodex for 10 days. That, with the several follow up appointments, changed packing and dressing, has cleared up my MRSA infection. It is now day 18, and there is a slight hardness to the area, a very small scab and an indentation in my face. I'm so glad I intervened.
Published: July 07
I am 21 years old and one night my thigh right above my leg started to hurt and just kept hurting more and more and swelling more as the night went on. After a day I could hardly walk on my leg because it hurt way too bad. I had a scab on it and picked it off which caused my leg to puss out for 48 hours until I finally had my surgery. Any pressure on the leg would make it puss out a lot more. By the second day there was a white stringy puss coming out along with the thick bloody puss. They cut my leg open and cleaned it out and I was on vancomycin 3 times a day for the week I was in the hospital and even though I have been released I have to go to the hospital every 12 hours for another treatment of vancomycin. This is going to last for at least 2 weeks after I am out of the hospital and then after the 2 weeks they will see how my blood samples look and I may still have to go in for treatments longer. I normally do not like to go to doctors but I am very happy that I went to the ER for this one in a reasonable amount of time of 2 days.
Published: July 07
I have been diagnosed with MRSA. I have had many Surgeries and Hospital stays due to it. My advice to everyone is if you think you may have signs of the infection, please seek medical attention immediately. I thought mine was just a simple spider bite, but I was wrong, my dad was the one who told me about the infection, when he looked at the red swelling of the area, he stated that it looks like the MRSA. I got up to go to work the next morning, and I couldn't even walk because the area infected was right at the bottom of my knee cap, and as soon as I went into the emergency room they took one look at it and they knew what it was. I have had many medications, and hospitalizations from it. Keep Lysol or Clorox wipes handy, and antibacterial sanitizer handy so it would spread to others, I just hope that all of you are healthy and never catch this, because it is really devastating and painful to have and I just don't want anybody to go through what I have been through over the past 9 months!
Published: June 26
I have been dealing with these abscesses in my armpit for going on about 6 years now they are very painful. They are like little cyst that appear from nowhere I had many the size of golf balls and 2 the size of a baseball. I have had 12 removed from under my arms and many others that drained by themselves. Well back in the beginning of May this year I had another one. I went and had it lanced then the end of May I got 2 more, same thing I went and had them lanced it was then that they told me I had MRSA . I don't know how long I've had it. I'm taking all the precautions I can to make sure my two boys don't get it. I have read a lot about it on the net and to be honest I'm scared to death. I worry about it so much I make myself sick to where I can't eat for 3 or 4 days because I have my stomach messed up. So it's a daily stress for me.
I'm a college student, and I contracted MRSA at the middle of my first semester freshman year. I had what I thought was a pimple on the back of my thigh, right where my rear comes in contact with my bike seat. It got a little nasty, but it drained a few days later. I had several small abscesses through the course of the year; I just assumed everyone got them once in a while.
A month before my spring semester exams, I found another abscess in roughly the same spot where my very first sore appeared. I figured if I left it alone, kept it clean and kept it dry, it would take care of itself. Not so much, I found -- a few weeks later it had swelled to the size of my fist. The pressure was so intense I had to sit cross-legged leaning over so I could minimize the pain. I couldn't walk without limping.
Right before my exams, I began feeling so nauseated that I couldn't get off the floor. I laid in our bathroom and alternated sobbing and vomiting for an entire Saturday. My poor roommate had to watch me crawl around the room and cry because walking was now impossible being that it was extremely painful.
I went home to my parents so I could have some privacy and soak my leg in the bathtub and apply hot rags. Three days of rest, no activity whatsoever -- that's the only thing that got that terrible thing to drain. It's debilitating.
I have had two more mild ones since the huge one, all on the back of my legs right below my rear. I'm waiting on the results of a nasal swab that is supposed to determine if I'm a carrier. I don't know what I'm going to do if I have to deal with these terrible nasty things for the rest of my life.
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The word "rash" means an outbreak of red bumps on the body. The way people use this term, "a rash" can refer to many different skin conditions. The most common of these are scaly patches of skin and red, itchy bumps or patches all over the place.
Pneumonia is inflammation of one or both lungs with consolidation. Pneumonia is frequently but not always due to infection. The infection may be bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic. Symptoms may include fever, chills, cough with sputum production, chest pain, and shortness of breath.
A boil is a skin abscess, a collection of
pus localized deep in the skin. There are several different types of boils. Among them are the following: furuncle or
carbuncle, Cystic acne, Hidradenitis suppurativa, and Pilonidal cyst.
Staphylococcus or Staph is a group of bacteria that can cause a multitude of diseases. Staph infections can cause illness directly by infection or indirectly by the toxins they produce. Symptoms and signs of a Staph infection include redness, swelling, pain, and drainage of pus. Minor skin infections are treated with an antibiotic ointment, while more serious infections are treated with intravenous antibiotics.
Headaches can be divided into two categories: primary headaches and secondary headaches. Migraine headaches, tension headaches, and cluster headaches are considered primary headaches. Secondary headaches are caused by disease. Headache symptoms vary with the headache type. Over-the-counter pain relievers provide short-term relief for most headaches.
A sty (sometimes spelled stye) is a tender, painful red bump located at the base of an eyelash or on, inside, or under the eyelid, which is the result of an acute infection of the oil glands of the eyelid. Complications of a sty can be blepharitis and chalazion.
Cellulitis is an acute spreading bacterial infection below the surface of the skin characterized by redness, warmth, inflammation, and pain. The most common cause of cellulitis is the bacteria Staph (Staphylococcus aureus).
Although a fever technically is any body temperature above the normal of 98.6 degrees F. (37 degrees C.), in practice a person is usually not considered to have a significant fever until the temperature is above 100.4 degrees F (38 degrees C.). Fever is part of the body's own disease-fighting arsenal: rising body temperatures apparently are capable of killing off many disease- producing organisms.
Impetigo is a contagious skin infection caused by staph and strep bacteria. There are two types of impetigo: non-bullous and bullous. Symptoms of non-bullous impetigo include small blisters on the nose, face, arms, or legs and possibly swollen glands. Bullous impetigo symptoms include blisters in various areas, particularly in the buttocks area. Treatment involves gentle cleansing, removing the crusts of popped blisters, and the application of prescription-strength mupirocin antibiotic ointment.
Sepsis (blood poisoning) is a potentially deadly infection with signs and symptoms that include elevated heart rate, low or high temperature, rapid breathing and/or a white blood cell count that is too high or too low and has more than 10% band cells. Most cases of sepsis are caused by bacterial infections, and some cases are caused by fungal infections. Treatment requires hospitalization, IV antibiotics, and therapy to treat any organ dysfunction.
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infection is the most common type of infection acquired by patients while hospitalized. Patients at risk for VRE are those who are already ill, and hospitalized, including individuals with diabetes, elderly, ICU patients, kidney failure patients, or patients requiring catheters. Enterococci can survive for months in the digestive tract and female genital tract. Other risk factors for acquiring VRE include those how have been previously treated with vancomycin and combinations of other antibiotics. Treatment of VRE is generally with other antibiotics other than vancomycin. Prevention of VRE can be achieved by proper hand hygiene.
Burns are categorized by severity as first, second, or third degree. First degree burns are similar to a painful sunburn. The damage is more severe with second degree burns, leading to blistering and more intense pain. The skin turns white and loses sensation with third degree burns. Burn treatment depends upon the location, total burn area, and intensity of the burn.
The majority of spiders in the United States are harmless. Two exceptions include the black widow spider and the brown recluse spider. Symptoms of a harmless spider bite generally involve redness, irritation, and pain. alized symptoms of bites from black widow and brown recluse spiders may include: nausea and vomiting, fever, headache, abdominal pain, joint pain, and more. In general, a brown recluse spider bite or black widow spider bite may require medical attention. The information includes pictures of the brown recluse and black widow spiders for identification.
Gangrene may result when blood flow to a tissue is lost or not adequate to keep the tissue alive. There are two types of gangrene: wet and dry. All cases of wet gangrene are infected by bacteria. Most cases of dry gangrene are not infected. If wet gangrene goes untreated, the patient may die of sepsis and die within hours or days. Dry gangrene usually doesn't cause the patient to die. Symptoms of dry gangrene include numbness, discoloration, and mummification of the affected tissue. Wet gangrene symptoms include swelling, pain, pus, bad smell, and black appearance of the affected tissue. Treatment depends upon the type of gangrene and how much tissue is compromised by the gangrene.
Necrotizing fasciitis is also known as a flesh-eating bacterial infection, Fournier's gangrene, suppurative fasciitis, and necrotizing cellulitis. The disease is occasionally caused by fungi, but most cases are caused by bacteria that enter the skin through insect bites, cuts, puncture wounds, or surgical incisions. Symptoms include pain, redness, swelling, fever, chills, skin ulceration, bullae formation, black scabs, gas formation, and fluid draining from the site of infection. Treatment involves hospitalization, the use of intravenous antibiotics, and debridement of the necrotic tissue.
It's important to know whether you will breastfeed or bottle-feed your baby prior to delivery, as the breasts' ability to produce milk diminishes soon after childbirth without the stimulation of breastfeeding. Breast milk is easily digested by babies and contains infection-fighting antibodies and cholesterol, which promotes brain growth. Formula-fed babies actually need to eat somewhat less often since formula is less readily digested by the baby than human milk. This article explores the advantages and disadvantages of both forms of feeding.
Drug resistance (antimicrobial resistance) is the ability of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses to grow, even in the presence of a drug that would normally kill it (or limit it's growth). Drug resistance is a growing problem, particularly for infections such as MRSA, VRE (vancomycin-resistant enterococci), tuberculosis, HIV, STDs, gonorrhea, flu, pneumonia, malaria, E. coli, salmonella, Campylobacter, which causes diarrhea and gastroenteritis. Learn how to protect yourself from resistance to drugs.
PCR (polymerase chain reaction) is a method to analyze a short sequence of
DNA (or RNA) even in samples
containing only minute quantities of DNA or RNA. PCR is used to reproduce
(amplify) selected sections of DNA or RNA. Previously, amplification of DNA involved cloning the segments of interest into vectors for
expression in bacteria, and took
weeks. But now, with PCR done in test tubes, it takes only a few hours. PCR is
highly efficient so that untold numbers of copies can be made of the DNA.
Moreover, PCR uses the same molecules that nature uses
for copying DNA:
Two "primers", short single-stranded DNA sequences that are synthesized to
correspond to the beginning and ending of the DNA stretch to be copied;
An enzyme called polymerase that moves along the segment of DNA, reading
its code and assembling a copy; and
A pile of DNA building blocks that the polymerase needs t...
If you think you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.
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I developed MRSA after I scratched what I thought was a pimple on my right buttock. Two days later, I got this huge lump at the area where the pimple was. The following day, I went to our Immediate Medical Center and was started on Bactrim. I was told to hot-pack the lesion. After I hot-packed the lesion, the infection spread like wild fire. The following day, I was unable to walk because my entire buttock was purple, full of pus, and extremely painful. My primary care doctor sent me right to the hospital where my surgeon performed emergency surgery on me. I now have an 8-inch surgical incision that has been laid open so it can heal from the inside out. The wound is now about 3/4 inch deep and 2 inches wide since it has healed somewhat thanks to the "Wound Pump" I will be wearing for at least another three weeks. I was hospitalized and given massive doses of antibiotics and will be on antibiotics for another three to four weeks, or more if necessary. My surgeon told me that he had seen many cases of this sort, but none that compared to the amount of necrotic tissue and pus he had to remove from me.
Related Reading: MRSA