Oh really? Staph infections on the rise? I believe it.

Last night I was reading some news from my Earthlink start page. Under the heading of Health News was this headline:
Staph Skin Infections on Rise in U.S.
Oh, really? I believe them as I am currently dealing with the second pus-filled infection on Larien's head. It is difficult to tell from this picture, but the red area surrounding the scabby area is about the size of a dime. Read a bit of the news story:

Researchers analyzed all skin infections among adults who went to hospital emergency rooms in 11 U.S. cities in August 2004. Of the 422 cases, 249, or 59 percent, were caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Such bacteria are impervious to the penicillin family of drugs long used for treatment.

The proportion of infections due to MRSA ranged from 15 percent to as high as 74 percent in some hospitals.

"This completely matches what our experience at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital has been," said Dr. Buddy Creech, an infectious-disease specialist whose hospital was not included in the study. "Usually what we see is a mom or dad brings their child in with what they describe as a spider bite that's not getting better or a pimple that's not getting better," and it turns out to be MRSA.

The germ typically thrives in health-care settings where people have open wounds and tubes. But in recent years, outbreaks have occurred among prisoners, children and athletes, with the germ spreading through skin contact or shared items such as towels. Dozens of people in Ohio, Kentucky and Vermont recently got MRSA skin infections from tattoos.

The good news: MRSA infections contracted outside a hospital are easier to treat. The study found that several antibiotics work against them, including some sulfa drugs that have been around for decades. A separate study in the journal reports the effectiveness of Cubicin, an antibiotic recently approved to treat bloodstream infections and heart inflammation caused by MRSA.

I fit in that category of parents worried about the pimple (in Larien's case an infected hair follicle) that won't get better. I don't think this is MRSA, but it is a possibility, especially with Phill working in a hospital.

What is there to do with Larien's infection? The plan was for a visit to the pediatrician. She doesn't have a fever or any swollen lymph nodes, so it isn't cellulits like her last infection. However, she wouldn't let us near the back of her head, and we certainly didn't want to end up in the ER over the weekend with a much sicker kid. I decided this morning that she was dirty enough to need a bath. She readily agreed. As I was washing her hair . . .Pop! Pus oozed onto my hand. Is this good? Yes. Why?

And, doctors need to lance the wound to get rid of bacteria rather than relying on a drug to do the job.

"The most important treatment is actually draining the pus," Gorwitz said. Many times that is a cure all by itself, she said.

Since this morning, she's let me put a warm compress on the wound and allowed me to get more of the green pus out. Being a mother can be so gross.

The full study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

27 August 2006
I'm beginning to think that Larien is cursed. She has another one in her hairline. Anyone think it is time for a trip to the pediatrician?