I need to know about MRSA, please I am freaking out?

A few years ago my husband had a MRSA infection and had to be hospitalized. I think he might given it to me because I used to get these quarter sized red hard things on my skin that would mount to a white pus filled pimple on top, which would break open sometimes. I used to get them in my underwear area, by the pubic hair (gross sorry) Well every now and then he gets outbreaks of them and once in a blue moon I get like one or two on my body. Well, now we have an 8 month old baby and I found a small pimple on his butt that looked like mine and my husband, except smaller. I need to know,

Can you get it from skin to skin contact?
Does it sound like my baby has it now?
How do you get tested for it?

I looked on this website and it said that the MRSA stays on the skin but it can "burrow deep into the body and affect your organs..."http://www.mayoclinic.com/heal...

PLease anyone help me, I'm scared my whole family and I have it and that it will get in to our

bodies and kill us, especially my 8 month old who is so little and young < : (

Hi,

Ok, MRSA is a staph infection. that is all---what makes it SPECIAL, is it is resistant to the antibiotics we HAD at the time that it was discovered.

Those of us in certain parts of NY State KNEW about MRSA for the last 10 years or more......so, for us, this isnt new. I have YET to know of one of my coworkers who got it, and we were going into what we nicknamed the "petri dish" up to 10 times daily, transporting and handling patients with this---and MRSA was all over the place. the staff at this facility would FREQUENTLY lie to us, and try to make us (actually DEMAND) that we remove our gloves before handling the patients. Now, these are patients with open sores, so according to state and local guidelines, we HAD to wear gloves. We had patients with RESPIRATORY forms of MRSA as well as some with it in any form you could think of---yet, we were able to protect ourselves.

now---to answer your questions---

Can you get it from skin to skin contact? YES.
Do you necessarily HAVE IT?? not necessarily---you may only have a boil---and your son may too. You should go see your doctor (yes, perhaps embarrassing, but, better to go NOW then to delay and let it get systemic).

Does it sound like your baby has it? It could be, but again...go take him to get checked first---and they will see if it is or isnt.

How do they test for it? They can run blood work on the culture they take from it---and they can try antibiotics for it.

MRSA is getting ALOT of attention now, but....it really has been around for a while....please, try to relax a little, get in to see your doctors, and if by chance it IS---and that is IF, when you DO have any outbreaks, just keep it covered.

What we always did was wear long sleeves, and took them off when we were out of the facility and done with exposure to the patient---this helped cover our skin, and then limit our exposing us to what was on the clothing.

One more note---one of my coworkers worked as a lab tech at the hospital during her OFF time from work. She used to get home, and put her scrubs from the lab job (she wore scrubs to draw blood) in a specific basket to wash seperate. She started realizing her CAT was sleeping in the basket on the dirty scrubs at times...and she would chase him out. (she was drawing blood on the patients from the facility that 75% of them had MRSA) Well, one day, she started to notice sores on her cat...she took it to the vet, and found out the cat had MRSA--so, the moral of this, is, when you find out ANY of you have an outbreak....keep laundry seperate, wash them well.

Good luck.

i think you should first take you baby to the pediatrician and voice your concerns the baby can be tested and then maybe refer you and your husband to be tested. this is a serious condition but it can be treated, do not hesitate. it can be transmited by skin to skin contact and it can also live on inatimate objects for a very long time such as bed sheets and the floor. the sooner you get it checked out the better. but the signs you and your husband are showing do sound like staph i have seen before.

Yes it sounds like your baby has it.
You need to see your doctor.
They might be able to send you to a infectious disease specialist. I was sent to one when I had MRSA and they dicuses how i might still be getting it and since seeing them I have been MRSA free for 3 years.

Good Luck to you!

Staphylococci are gram-positive, aerobic organisms. Staphylococcus aureus is the most pathogenic; it typically causes skin infections and sometimes pneumonia, endocarditis, and osteomyelitis. It commonly leads to abscess formation. Some strains elaborate toxins that cause gastroenteritis, scalded skin syndrome, and toxic shock syndrome. Diagnosis is by Gram stain and culture. Treatment is usually with penicillinase-resistant 尾-lactams, but because antibiotic resistance is common, vancomycin may be required. Some strains are resistant to all but the newest ribosome-targeted antibiotics (eg, linezolid, quinupristin plus dalfopristin) or daptomycin (a lipopeptide antibiotic).