If you take your child to the emergency room and the doctors say your child has a staph infection, how frightened should you be? The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC (web|news) ) show that a drug-resistant form of staph killed more than 18,000 people (2005). But the risk may depend more on the strength of your child than the potency of the germ.
“And I see a little red area right there, right in the ear canal,” says Dr. David Goo, M.D., Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, as he is examining his patient, 14-year-old Brandon.
The doctor says the red area could be MRSA -- Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.
“When I push that you can see some pus coming out of it,” says Goo.
“Some of these types of infections are very, very serious and they can go from being a small pimple on the skin to a blood-borne infection or pneumonia or a brain abscess. These are the things we hear about in the news – children and adults dying from staph infections,” says Goo.
Staph infections can be deadly, or, as in Brandon’s case, easily treated with antibiotics. The difference, says Goo, may be the child’s immune system.
“Each individual has their own type of immunity. For example, I might get a pimple, I might treat it with water and soap, clean it off and it just heals up. Other people might not fight off that specific infection as well; they’ll get a pimple, they will get redness, the redness will streak up their arm, it will go into their bloodstream and they may get very, very sick from it.” says Goo.
How fast it spreads, says Goo, may depend on the child’s immunity.
“Some of these things spread very quickly, so you may have a small pimple and then the next morning it’s a much bigger spot and the child has a high fever and isn’t acting right. That’s very concerning,” says Goo.
How do you strengthen a child’s immunity? Dr. Goo says use good hygiene, don’t overuse antibiotics, make sure your children are immunized, and send your children to daycare to help expose them to different illnesses and build their immune systems.
“They’ll have a runny nose and vomiting and fever and diarrhea that will probably be off and on for the first two or three years because they are going to get exposed to all the viruses. Children build up their immunity by getting sick. And so you can do it early on or wait until they go to kindergarten for them to be exposed. Sooner or later they’re going to have to be exposed to develop immunity,” says Goo.
Some hospitals are now seeing VRSA -- Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. Vancomycin is the family of drugs used to treat MRSA infections. For that reason, doctors say, people should only go to the hospital and use antibiotics when absolutely necessary.
Tips for Parents:
- Staph bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or another wound, and even then they often cause only minor skin problems in healthy people. But in older adults and people who are ill or have weakened immune systems, ordinary staph infections can cause serious illness. (MayoClinic)
- Staph infections, including MRSA, generally start as small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also burrow deep into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs. (MayoClinic)
- Keep an eye on minor skin problems — pimples, insect bites, cuts and scrapes — especially in children. If wounds become infected, see your doctor. Ask to have any skin infection tested for MRSA before starting antibiotic therapy. Drugs that treat ordinary staph aren't effective against MRSA, and their use could lead to serious illness and more resistant bacteria. (MayoClinic)
- Both hospital and community-associated strains of MRSA still respond to certain medications. Doctors generally rely on the antibiotic Vancomycin to treat resistant germs. Although Vancomycin saves lives, it may grow resistant as well; some hospitals are already seeing outbreaks of Vancomycin-resistant MRSA. To help reduce that threat, doctors may drain an abscess caused by MRSA rather than treat the infection with drugs. (MayoClinic)
- The best way to prevent the spread of germs is for healthcare workers to wash their hands frequently, to properly disinfect hospital surfaces and to take other precautions such as wearing a mask when working with people with weakened immune systems. (MayoClinic)
References:
MayoClinic
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
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