Staph Infection

My son just had a staph infection on his face a few weeks ago. I was a little concerned because we have another son who is immune compromised and I did ask if we need to look at testing him (the one with the staph) and he said no they see these sort of infections all the time. He took ten days worth of antibiotics and an ointment that we put on the spots three times a day after cleaning with antibacterial soap. I would say we saw improvement after about the third day of treatment.

I would watch her leg for any increased swelling, maybe even mark the edges with a pen and if it seems to be getting bigger, I would take her back in. If she has a high fever and it is getting bigger I would take her to the ER.

Hope this helps.

A.

I just read an article about that last night! That is some really scary stuff. It's resistant to most antibiotics and all doctors don't have knowledge of that. They need to take a culture of it to find out what strain of staph it is to know what kind of antibiotic will be effective against it. They need to act fast because it destroys tissue quickly. You need to read the article in this month's issue of Self ASAP! The article is called "The Bug Drugs Can't Cure".

My daughter had one on her inner thigh and they are very painful. Hers burst and cleared up after a couple of days and it never came back. Staph is a fairly common infection and I wouldn't panic as long as it works its way out. She could have had a rough patch of skin or little pimple there that picked it up, expecially if she is still wearing a diaper. The systemic infections usually come from it being introduced during surgery when it is sealed inside. Just keep and eye on it and don't let her touch it because it could spread. Good luck. I know that it is hard to see your baby in pain.

N.-

Is she very uncomfortable? This could be a sign of it getting worse than better. My daughter had the same thing but in a different area on her body.She would cry all the time and was very uncomfortable and wouldn't stop crying. She was admitted back into the hospital after a week and 2 days old. I would call your doctor back and tell him that the situation is getting worse today. Don't wait another day! Ask him to see her or if he can't tell them that someone needs to take a look at her cause she can not play normally. Make sure to tell them how much pain she is in sometimes they don't get it. Also, you may want to try another doctors office. I wouldn't wait another day. If we didn't go in when we did, my daughter could have other problems today. They told us something about if it went into her blood. She had a blood test done every day in the hospital to make sure it didn't get into her blood stream. It was so hard for me to take what she went through at such a young age. Was in tears myself and so was she and just wanted them to figure it out. I think they diffently need to do a blood test to make sure it hasn't gotten that far. If you need to talk I can send my info in a private message to you. It could really change her life if they don't figure it out soon.

C.

Please, Please do not look all over the internet for medical problems, except one great site, WEBMD.com. Its the only place I go for information. The other stuff you find IS SCARY because it only talks about the ones that have died or had something bad happen to them. WEBMD.com will explain what it is, and it will give names of good sites to help and sometimes it will give you a list of sites that have forums like this one, only specific to your problem. I use to do that with my daughter's heart defect and ended up crying all the time, then my mom, who is an RN, told me to stop searching the whole net and stick to this one site. Good Luck with your daughter!

Oh yeah that site is lead by some of the top doctors in our nation too, so you can trust it.
oh and sites like this one are good to get help from too.

Hey we had this same type of thing go though my house. My son (also 2) had a small sore in him nose. I took him to the doctor and they tested him for MRSA staph because he was exposed to it from another child he was around. Well it was positive. MRSA staph is nasty! There is only 1 oral antibiotic that can get rid of it if it gets into your system and 1 cream to treat skin related infection. It is resistant to everything else. If I were you I would have that boil lanced and tested for MRSA. As nasty and as horrible as it sounds you need to make sure she is on the right meds to get rid of this before it gets worse. Especially if she gets a fever! Good luck!

I had a boil on the top of my leg by my hip bone and it was very painful. Once it popped and the pressure released everything was fine. If you feel as if you need a second opinion, don't be shy to call someone. This is your childs life you're talking about and my opinion is better safe than sorry. :)

I say, ANYTIME you aren't happy with the level of care your child receives, you should get a second opinion. If for no other reason then to put your mind at ease. You have enough to worry about without worrying about your baby. However, don't read too much on the internet, I'd do the webmd thing and maybe the AMA site, because otherwise you don't know the credentials of the person posting.

We had a staph infection go through our house also. It was horrible. 6,5,5,2. The six year old never got a bump, but the girls did and so did the 2 year old. Our doctor tested it and it came back MRSA staph. There are only a couple of potent antibiotics that will cure MRSA. If it is not getting better, I would suggest having the staph test done.

Hi N....I hope you were able to get your daughter's staph infection cured. I had the same thing on my knee back in October. I thought mine was nearly healed only to get extremely sick a week and a half later with a fever of 103-104 for 4 days straight. I was so sick I didn't have the enegery to get out of bed. I didn't even hardly eat or drink anything. I got dehydrated and ended up in the ER in Columbia, MO. My dad is a doctor in Kirksville, MO and he took me himself to Columbia because he feared I had sepsis which is an infection in the blood. Sure enough, the staph infection had gotten into my blood stream which can be a life threatening situation. Staph is nothing to snuff about. It can be very serious. I suggest you continue to watch your daughters infection. I have done a lot of online research on the topic and suggest you do the same...the resistant staph infection has become much more common and regular antibiotics won't take care of it.

Sincerely,
L.

I highly recommend Dr. Salow as a pediatricion. After fourteen years of taking my son every including Iowa City to find a diagnosis for his pain and various symptoms we were refered to Dr. Salow. Within a month we were told that our son had a type of Muscular Dystrophy. I had gone through all kinds of emotinal frustration, even to the extent of being told I was imagining things. It was such a relief to finally know what and how to treat him. I have been very impressed with the treatments we have gotten through Blank Hospital's Emergency room when we have had the need for the ER. I was 100% Mercy prior to this with my son, now for my children (four of them) I choose Blank.
Best of luck with your daughter and future medical needs.
Sincerely,

I really don't have any advice, I just wanted to let you know that my son just had to go though something similiar. I don't remember the name of the virus (I was holding my screaming son almost everytime they told us) but now ANY TIME he has an boil or abcest on his body we are to take him to the doctor or ER or a quickcare right away and tell them he has a virus that is immune to alot of the antibodics. The only thing I can remember about it is that the doctor said it used to just be found in hospitals butis now out in the community.

My son also didn't really move around and when he did he favored the leg with the abcest on it. we took my son to Primary Health, the ER, and 3 doctor visits in less than a week. the ER cut it openand packed it which was really hard for the little guy. They also put a cathiter in him, an IV and drew blood.

It is getting to be really common now for people to get this virus, so maybe they knew what it was right away. One doctor says she's seen about 60 cases in 6 months. I think you're doctor might be on the right track and you should try to keep you're daughter on the meds and give it a couple of days. Believe me, I know just how hard it can be. Good luck, I hope this makes you feel a little better.