This is from Deanna, Moira’s mother - Moira is recovering well (thank goodness) from an MRSA infection:
My 2 year old daughter, Moira, spent the last few weeks in the Children’s Hospital in isolation due to an infection caused by MRSA - MRSA stands for methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus…and is an antibiotic resistant strain of Staph. In my daughter, the infection occurred as an outbreak of cellulitis. It began as a small round red bump on her right buttock that became about 2 inches long and an inch wide within 12 hours. This “abscess†was very hot to the touch and she had started to run a fever.
Suspecting something was very wrong with this scenario, I brought her directly to the South Calgary Urgent Care facility, and within a couple of hours, we were sent to the Children’s hospital’s emergency department for admitting.
Incidentally, two weeks earlier Moira was discovered to be colonized with MRSA…tests that were prompted by her babysitter’s entire family testing positive. A person is considered “colonized†when they are a carrier of the bug, but have no illness or infection. Because we knew that she was a colonized, the doctors knew immediately to treat it as such. This knowledge may have saved her life.
Moira spent 2 ½ weeks in the hospital, and 5 types of antibiotics later (3 of them intravenously) she is doing much better. The importance of awareness in our Calgary has never been more relevant. Up until now, the Calgary Health Region was only concerned with high risk demographics. In the past year or so, more and more cases are in the community among people with no connection to the high risk groups. Some facts I feel that should be shared with the public are as follows;
• There are 2 strains of MRSA, Community and Hospital, and numerous forms of each strain.
• MRSA can be very serious, and in a small percentage of cases, fatal in otherwise healthy individuals
• We, the general public, are contributing to the spread of MRSA in many ways; two main ones being the misuse and overuse of antibiotics and antibacterial products in the general community.
• MRSA was predominantly found in hospitals and long term care facilities…and was then documented in prisons and homeless shelters; it is showing up in the general public in Calgary in the form of the community strain.
• MRSA can be a risk in team athletic sports and gyms, and more education and awareness should be promoted via coaches and schools.
• In some US cities, percentages of colonized persons is so high, they have given up decolonization attempts; if we screen and treat individuals here as they are found, we may be able to control the spread of MRSA
• MRSA is transmitted through contact, and can be prevented through diligent hand washing.
• MRSA can only be fought through community awareness and continued learning.More needs to be done to increase awareness of this potentially serious infection, particularly now that it is out in the general community. Simple awareness of its existence can prevent potentially fatal results if left untreated.
More information on MRSA in Canada can be found at the following addresses:
CA MRSA, Canada, Infection Prevention, MRSA, MRSA in Children, MRSA Internationally .gif)
4 responses so far ↓
Michelle // Sep 16, 2006 at 10:46 pm
My 10 year old son spent 26 days at Valley Children’s in Madera, CA due to MRSA. Spent 4 weeks on IV drugs at home and now on oral antibiotics. MRSA is brutal. The word needs to get out!
Shari-Lee // Sep 27, 2006 at 10:26 am
My name is Shari and I live in Ontario, Canada. My 18-month old daughter has just been diagnosed with MRSA. She has never been hospitalized (up until now and birth).
What started out as a boil on her bum turned out to be a huge abscess. They initally lanced the abscess and she had three pockets, one on top of each other burst. The hole ended up being big enough to fit a golf ball on her tiny little bum.
A week later we had a follow-up visit with the doctor who lanced her and he told us she had the MRSA virus. He said it was this infection some people get from being hospitalized and thought it was weird that she had it.
What makes me mad is he never thought to tell us how infectious it was. I have four children and they were all put at risk because of his negligence. Anyhow, a couple of days later I decided to look up this MRSA on the internet. For some reason I had never, ever heard of it before now. When I read what this was, I was horrified. My 18-month old had been put on some liquid antibiodics and after 3 days of taking it, she developed another abscess on her bum, right on her tailbone. So, I took her immediately to the Children’s hospital at which time they admitted her, put an i.v. in her and treated her with vancomycin. She has now been home for approximately 10 days now and appears to be doing ok. I still find myself sleepless and worrying that this MRSA is still in the house. There is 8 of us living here and my father-in-law has COPD so I am scared for him especially. If anyone has any information that will help me make sure this virus is out of our house, I would appreciate it so much. We use antibacterial soap, gel, etc. I use tree tea oil in all the body washes etc.
I don’t know if I am being paranoid now or if I am not doing enough?
Amanda S. // Oct 18, 2006 at 9:32 pm
My name is Amanda and I have a 4 year old little boy that was diagnosed with MRSA about 8 months ago. I never realized how dangerous and horrible this is. I am just recently learning about all the risks. My son has been to the ER roughly 5 times because of all the “little bumps” on his bottom, legs, and neck. They never ONCE told us how contagious this is. We have an appointment at KU med Center here in Kansas next Monday and to be quite honest I am a little scared. My poor baby. He was 6 weeks early and as I was on the internet looking for information, one site says that premies have a higher risk, so I am wondering if this is why. What all do I need to do around my house to keep him healthy any answers would be greatly appreciated.
Nancy // Oct 25, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Hi there I am nursing student here in canada and have selected MRSA as my topic of interest. I am interested in Education our public because the majority of us do not even know of its existence. If you would like me to include any information that you think is really important I would love to hear from you…… My own personal email is nzurheide@northwestel.net. Education is the key…
NancyZ………………………..
Leave a Comment