[Ginny]

Hi. I'm new to this and have been trying to post this for awhile now. I really need your help for myself and my husband. But first as a nurse, I wanted to comment on the MRSA discussion. It is widespread and has been increasing for awhile. I saw it my first day of nursing school clinicals and now, 12 years later, it's practically commonplace. The government has started initatives for hospitals to help stop the spread in the community & the hospital. Yes, they are TRYING to flag patients that have MRSA or have a history of MRSA. It's good to be up-front about whether you've had it in the past, because that gives the doc a head start in picking out what antibiotic may work better for you.

Here are some things I've learned over the years.

1. Good hand washing now consists of vigorous scrubbing for 30 seconds with soap and water, at the webs between the fingers, the back of the hand as well as the front, and under the nails. Antibacterial soaps, etc can potentially increase your risk for MRSA. If you just do a quick wash, then there's not enough exposure to kill the germ but just enough to make the germ change it's makeup and become resistant.

2. Long fingernails and artificial nails have the potential to harbor MRSA, etc.
3. Bedlinens and clothing of a MRSA patient should be washed separately from others in the household. (There's even a dryer that can sterilize clothes now.)

4. Diluted bleach kills the MRSA. I personally use quarter strength. Another nurse uses half strength. Every so often, I wipe down the door knobs and other areas, throughout the house.

5. A little dirt is ok, we can't live in a sterile bubble, we aren't sterile people, staph & strep and other nasty little germs just live on people. A few dust-bunnies in the house with a little germ can actually help build your immune system. Once you have the antibodies for it, you are better prepared if that dust-bunnies' brother or sister come to visit.

6. Vancomycin (iv) helps kill MRSA, BUT...VRE is an old germ that has gotten a face-lift and is vancomycin resistant. Zyvox is the new antibiotic for VRE and it's the only one I know of currently available to treat VRE. However, one infectious disease doc has found a case of a Zyvox resistant germ. How do you treat THAT? Some people are encouraging people & docs to go with the Zyvox orally (pill) to treat instead of iv, because it would be cheaper than a long hospital-stay. But the risk there is that it won't be as well regulated and more resistance will develop. Our little country hospital trys to monitor the use of vanc and zyvox to make sure that the docs are prescribing it appropriately. They do this because of past national over-use of antibiotics and because these antibiotics can be toxic with strong, dangerous side effects.

7. Silver in a wound dressing because of it's antibacterial properties is being strongly encouraged through pharmacuetical companies, etc, but I recently have "heard" of studies where they found resistance to the silver (even though people said there'd never be resistance because its a metal and you'd have to change the periodic table.....?)

8. As for c-diff, its major diarrhea and you run the risk of getting it from antibiotics doing to0 good of a job and killing off the good bacteria in the gut. Then it gets spread from one person to another by not performing good handwashing or by getting the germs on your clothing. According to our infectious disease nurse, the alcohol-based hand sanitizers don't kill the c-diff. Hep, it kills 99.9%, except for c-diff. So, you gotta grab the soap and scrub.

9. Recently, the Norwalk (winter-vomiting disease) virus has been showing its power. After the vomiting & diarrhea are gone, you are still contagious for 2-3 days afterward, so someone else needs to do the cooking for the family at that time. Grab the diluted bleach and wipe down the bathroom. For the elderly and immunocompromised, I have heard it being compared to Parvo in dogs. So, when a nursing home puts themselves on quarentine, they mean it (NO MATTER HOW POLITELY THEY MAY SAY).

10. There is now resistant yeast infections too...

11. Last bit of info, there is necrotizing fasciitis out there (it's commonly refered to as that "flesh eating" disease. It starts out on the skin, (usually the groin areas), red & painful, can start weeping/leaking clear to clear yellow fluid, odor is possible, and it is extremely painful. IF any generalized painful redness starts turning purple-black, get to the emergency room IMMEDIATELY.

Well, that's what I've learned. I'm not perfect. I'm not certified in a specialty. I just vowed when I became a nurse to be a patient advocate no matter what. And I just wanted to shared what I've learned over the years.

Thank you & I'll be in touch about the back pain.

-Ginny