Venango County Blog October Archive

5 beginning signs of mrsa

By Vicki at 10/30/07 09:55

Will you recognize MRSA in you or your child? Be aware that there are a couple of different strains, at least in my experience, and you should be aware of the warning signs for the worse of the two.

1. Both kinds start out as a lump under the skin that is easily felt and very painful, but the lesser infection will remain the same in appearance although it may increase somewhat in size
2. The area of skin immediately over the lump will be red in both types
3. In the more severe infection, the lump will grow, and grow pretty quickly. In some cases the size will double in a day's time
4. The redness over the lump will expand in size so it extends outward from the actual lump, and this happens fairly quickly. In my daughter's case, in a matter of four days, the infection had spread from a lump in her bikini line halfway down her thigh!
5. There will be a fever with this type. My daughters occurred on the third day. At that point she had been given an antibiotic and had taken it for two days (We went to the family physician on day ONE).

Once it gets to the point where the infection is eating away at the tissues inside, the only antibiotic that seems to work is the vancomycin. That is great, except for those poor souls who have no health insurance will be paying $1,200 for 20 twenty pills.

If the redness is spreading, and there is fever, take them or go to the hospital. If your family doctor doesn't seem concerned, bypass them. It CAN mean the difference between life, death or loss of limb. Two people I know personally contracted this infection within the same two week period, neither related or even in contact with the other. One lost a finger and my daughter could have lost her leg. Don't wait if it shows these signs. If it stays a smallish red lump, it may be the lesser or the two.

Tags: mrsa • mrsa symptoms • skin infection • ca mrsa •
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