It is especially sad when your child gets MRSA. I thought it was heartbreaking to see my husband go through this – I cannot fathom what it would be like to see my child go through it. Both of my children on occasion get staphylococcal skin infections, but luckily, we haven’t been though antibiotic resistant infections with them.
My dear friend Denise’s 2 daughters acquired MRSA after subsequent ear tube surgeries. My friend Theresa Drew lost her strong, heathy son to MRSA. There are so many children out there battling this illness, you have to be so careful.
The trouble with MRSA in children is tenfold. Speaking of community acquired MRSA – small children are notoriously difficult to keep hygenic – impossible really – and that is your first defense. Lots and lots of handwashing and disinfecting surfaces, and sometimes it just isn’t enough. I can’t tell you how many mothers I know who have MRSA, or a family member has MRSA, that spend their whole life working as hard as they can to keep their house clean and their family infection free. Myself, I spent the first 6 months after my husband came home bleaching everything that could be bleached and cleaning everything I could clean. I finally learned enough to stop driving myself insane and concentrate on keeping my kids healthy so their bodies can fight bacteria on its own. You can never eliminate all of the bacteria from your life.
You have a hard decision to make if you are trying to decide whether to get elective surgery for your children. On one hand, your child is getting multiple, unending ear infections, and on the other hand you could acquire the infection of a lifetime from surgery.
School athletic facilities are a prime place for MRSA to grow. Dark, damp equipment, sweaty pads put back into a locker without being cleaned and dried provide a breeding ground for bacteria. There are more and more places opening up all of the time that will clean your athletic equipment for you, check out CleenFreek for more information. I also worked on a brochure earlier this year that you can download about MRSA in Athletics and have collected many other resources as well.
I hope this general overview of MRSA in children will make you aware, educate you a little and hopefully give you some resources to learn more about MRSA.
Awareness, CA MRSA, Cleen Freek, Education, HA MRSA, MRSA, MRSA in Children, MRSA in Schools/Athletics
9 responses so far ↓
Autism Vox » July Channel Theme Day: Children // Jul 6, 2006 at 10:06 am
[...] Christina at MRSA Notes provides a thoughtful overview about MRSA in Children. [...]
Autism Vox » July Channel Theme Day: Children // Jul 6, 2006 at 10:06 am
[...] Christina at MRSA Notes provides a thoughtful overview about MRSA in Children. [...]
dee // Oct 30, 2007 at 11:56 am
what do you think of facepainting children? Facepainters use the same brushes and sponges on everybody and the paint could also be a growth medium for bacteria? is it safe to have facepainting at a fair etc. if children with cuts and pustules etc. are not painted on? or is mrsa on the skin, nose or sweat and will spread thru facepainting?
Sherry // Dec 31, 2007 at 12:36 am
my grandson has been diagnosed with MRSA. he has been experiencing boils and having to have them surgically drained over and over. i am curious to know can it move to his blood stream and what would happen and what will keep him from getting it in his lungs. right now it has only shown up on his buttocks and his inter thigh. is it truley curable or can it go interanl
mrsa virus // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Thanks for this very interesting post about MRSA, this virus is important and must have attention paid to it. Thank you.
Ty Barker // Nov 14, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I need to know more about what form I have,how and where to test and hygene.God Bless Ty Barker
Christy Caldwell // Apr 17, 2010 at 9:11 pm
I have twins who have been infected with MRSA in their ears for close to 3 years now. They have been treated with all they could be. We have even used Vancomycin drops in their ears. Now they tell us that there is nothing more we can do. If they get an infection then we will go in once a week and have it drained. Other wise were told to wait until they were 8 when they could have more surgery. They have already had 5 surgeries that haven’t help. They also see an infectious disease doctor. We were also told not to worry about the puss pouring from their ears, and keep taking them to school and various activities and not worry about spreading it. This goes against everything I have read about MRSA and I am considering going out of town to a ENT Pediatric specialist and see if there is more we could do. I hate to see my kids in pain and dealing with suctioning the puss from their ears daily. I definately don’t want more oral antibiotics. They are allergic to sulfa now too. Any suggestions would be great!
Danielle // May 22, 2010 at 8:49 pm
I was unaware that my cousin has mrsa and i put my 16 month old daughter in the tub with her is their a high risk possibility that she will contract it and what steps can be taken to try to prevent it from infecting her? I bathed her again in a clean tub with antibacterial wash.
Cassy // Oct 14, 2010 at 12:24 am
I have had two mrsa outbreaks, when i first found out i had it i was in denial and was so scared! All i heard was its deadly and its a flesh eating bactiera. I felt like a nasty dirty walking diseses (might i add i am such a clean freak!) and even more i was soooo terrified my soon to be four year old would catch it so i became extra carful i havent had a out break since my last one healed about two weeks ago but before i am starting to feel human agian my daghter tells me here butt hurts i take a look and new right away a few hours after leaveing the hospidal and paying another large amount of money we dont have one atibiotics for my beatiful daughter. I fell guilty and confused what did i do wronge? what didnt i do right?? I pray to god she will get threw this…i know she will she is strong and healthy and full of life. besides the pain shes having shes taking it alot better then i did. shes all ready to be prinsses tiana for halloween and has about 300 hundred toys she wants for her bday.
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