Written by Neela K. Sethi, M.D.
I am sure that many of you have been hearing about the new “Super Bug” called MRSA. MRSA stands for Methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. It is a huge name, for a tiny bacteria that is on the rise. It was once limited to individuals that were hospitalized, in a nursing home, or had a weak immune system. However, now we see MRSA in healthy children and adults almost weekly.
MRSA is a variant of the bacteria Staph Aureus, which normally lives on our skin. The problem with MRSA is that is it quite resistant to most typical antibiotics, which can make it difficult to treat. Many MRSA infections start as small pimples anywhere on the body. However, these pimples can turn into larger and larger pimples called abscesses, which often need to be drained. More worrisome is that MRSA can lead to more serious infections, including pneumonia, infections of the bone, and can even infect the bloodstream and lead to death. This is of course very rare.
So, how do you know as a parent if a regular pimple on your child’s body is MRSA?
In my office I have a rule of five for parents:
#1 Lots of redness surrounding the pimple and very warm to touch
#2 Very swollen and painful
#3 Full of pus or draining pus/fluid
#4 Getting worse with each passing day
#5 Concurrent fevers, chills, body aches or any other systemic symptoms
If any of your typical pimples, meet the above criteria, please see your doctor as soon as possible. The only way for us to know if the infection is MRSA, is to send a culture, or a sample of the pus to the laboratory. While waiting for results, your doctor will likely place your child on an oral antibiotic such as Bactrim or Clindamycin.
In my practice, when I see a child with MRSA, along with the oral antibiotic, I use a topical antibiotic or ointment as well. I have the parent place small amounts of this ointment in the nose (I know it sounds strange), twice a day for 2 weeks, as this can help prevent reoccurrences because MRSA can sometimes live in children’s noses.
References:
http://pediatrics.about.com/od/mrsa/a/mrsa_symptoms.htm
