Mrsa

[IthinkNOT!]

Who has any experience with this?

I have several questions:

If someone with an infection, open wound, that has been tested positive to be MRSA swims with others in a public pool, what is the risk of spreading that to others?

If ppl swimming with the person who has MRSA have wounds themselves does that leave them more open to get it? By wounds, I mean things like torn cuticles, a mosquito bite that has scabbed over, a paper cut.

Is the chlorine level in pools sufficient to kill MRSA?

There is a reason I am asking this.

The same girl that manged to pass on bronchitis to half of our swim class, (The same bronchitis that I FINALLY got over after it turned into a sinus infection treated with 2 rounds of antibiotics and 3 yeast infections) now has been diagnosed with MRSA. She has boils that are open and oozing, according to her description, I have not seen them personally. She also has an ear infection. She told the swim teacher about the ear infection, but not about the MRSA. The teacher says that she can still be in the pool, just to keep her ears out of the water. Ear infection is one thing, MRSA is quite another.

She says she has been having problems with these boils for a while now, about a year, but only got tested on Wednesday.

I have been researching, and have found mixed reviews on getting MRSA in a swimming pool. Most research says that the locker room is actually worse.

I have been noticing since I started swimming that the smallest things take longer to heal. Such as when I first brought my new cat home, he scratched me. That took 2 weeks to heal, and I still can tell where he scratched me at. I chalked it all up to a combination of age and the pool water drying my skin out. But now I am wondering.

Also, I have follicitis, does that leave me more open to getting MRSA?

I have called my doctors office and spoke with the nurse, and she recommended that I be seen as a precaution, she actually told me not to panic, but that it couldn't hurt to get a check up anyway. She said that with me just getting done with antibiotics and being exposed to someone that had it that it was better to be safe than sorry. I can't get an appointment until July, though.

I just am confused on this one. I cannot afford to get sick.

[belle5691]

I have had MRSA before. My story and a lot more information is on www.skinisthesource.org . The website is put out by the Centers for Disease Control.

It is more contagious from the locker room probably than the actual pool, but I dont know that Id want people sharing the same water with me if I had an active case of MRSA going on. MRSA can reoccur over and over again. I was told that all my laundry, towels, etc. needed to be washed completely separate from my family.

Chlorine levels are NOT sufficient to kill MRSA. MRSA is highly resistant to most antibiotics. So Chlorine wouldn't be strong enough to kill the bacteria.

MRSA is more easily transferred from open wound to open wound. Including ripped cuticles, mosquito bites, etc. I got one of my last cases from a mosquito bite that I scratched.

There is probably a small chance with follicitis from what I read of being able to contract MRSA, but open sores are more susceptible.

I don't claim to be an expert by any means, but I have had 7 surgeries for MRSA infection, and have been dealing with it since 2005 now. I learned a lot on my trip to New York to meet with the doctors on the website www.skinisthesource.org . So if you have any questions about what I experienced with MRSA I will answer about my experiences. Hope it helps a little.


**The site www.skinisthesource.org is mostly about Hospital Acquired MRSA Infections, but precautions need to be the same, and there are links to other good sites from there. **

[buglebe]

She would not be allowed to go in the pool if the management of the pool was aware of this. No she would not.

[IthinkNOT!]

I have had MRSA before. My story and a lot more information is on www.skinisthesource.org . The website is put out by the Centers for Disease Control.

It is more contagious from the locker room probably than the actual pool, but I dont know that Id want people sharing the same water with me if I had an active case of MRSA going on. MRSA can reoccur over and over again. I was told that all my laundry, towels, etc. needed to be washed completely separate from my family.

Chlorine levels are NOT sufficient to kill MRSA. MRSA is highly resistant to most antibiotics. So Chlorine wouldn't be strong enough to kill the bacteria.

MRSA is more easily transferred from open wound to open wound. Including ripped cuticles, mosquito bites, etc. I got one of my last cases from a mosquito bite that I scratched.

There is probably a small chance with follicitis from what I read of being able to contract MRSA, but open sores are more susceptible.

I don't claim to be an expert by any means, but I have had 7 surgeries for MRSA infection, and have been dealing with it since 2005 now. I learned a lot on my trip to New York to meet with the doctors on the website www.skinisthesource.org . So if you have any questions about what I experienced with MRSA I will answer about my experiences. Hope it helps a little.


**The site www.skinisthesource.org is mostly about Hospital Acquired MRSA Infections, but precautions need to be the same, and there are links to other good sites from there. **
Thanks! I am checking out the sight. It seems to be mostly for hospital patients and such, but still alot of good info!

[IthinkNOT!]

She would not be allowed to go in the pool if the management of the pool was aware of this. No she would not.
You would think, right?

I placed a call to the pool today, and they claim that the chlorine in the water will kill anything.

They are however banning her from the pool. They say it is for her own protection not out of concern that she may spread it to others, and that she will have to bring a doctors release note before she can get back in the pool.

My thing is: Isn't that a bit like closing the gates after the horse has already escaped?

Also, I am about ready to smack her and say WTF? What is her malfunction? This makes 2 times that she has known that something was wrong and still came to spread her germs to everyone else.

[belle5691]

When I had MRSA and was in the hospital, I had a bright neon green sign on my door warning everyone that I had it. And told people the precautions that they needed to take before being around me, both for MY and THEIR protection.

Of course, it can't be caught by breathing the same air, but its senseless for people to throw caution to the wind and pretend like nothing is wrong, when simple steps will protect a lot!

[myspirit]

Thank you so much for bringing up this topic. I have a friend with a teen daughter who has weird sores all over her chest. She thought it was from changing laundry soap. Now that I've looked at the pictures, I think she might have this. Maybe now I can get her to take her dd to the doctor. I wanted her to months ago.

[belle5691]

Thank you so much for bringing up this topic. I have a friend with a teen daughter who has weird sores all over her chest. She thought it was from changing laundry soap. Now that I've looked at the pictures, I think she might have this. Maybe now I can get her to take her dd to the doctor. I wanted her to months ago.

I know that MRSA has become fairly common---but it can still kill people. When we had the meeting in NY, there were so many peoples reports, etc that got it, but didn't live through it. On http://www.stophospitalinfections.org/stories.html are stories of lots of people who had MRSA with life changing effects, some still walk with a limp, some don't even live through it. I am on pain meds now for over 3 years, with unexplained pain in my legs since the surgeries. I consider myself lucky to only have that problem. But, if you even suspect it, I wish people would get checked, it can move really slow, the first time, I went 2 or 3 weeks, or longer before getting checked. The last surgery I had, for MRSA infection, it spread overnight till I was in so much pain I rushed to the hospital.

[evrita]

IMHO we are all walking cases of MRSA

[IthinkNOT!]

I agree with you there.

There is nothing to be ashamed of in having it or being a carrier for it. It's not something that can be helped.

My problem is when someone knows that they have it and goes out of their way to expose me to it. That's just nasty and wrong on so many levels. From what I have been reading there are precautions to not spread this, the main one being hand washing and hygiene. Others include keeping the affected area covered with a clean dry bandage. How is someone keeping that bandage clean and dry in the pool?

The girl that was diagnosed had a huge boil on the side of her chest that was very painful. She ended up at the ER where they lanced it and cleaned it out and then packed it. She has to go get this done every other day. She found out she is allergic to the tape they were putting over it, so at this point it is packed but not covered. Yet she still plans to go get in the pool and be in the locker room with the rest of us.

The pool manager has not contacted her yet, and I don't know if they plan on it, to let her know that she is banned. They did not seem all that concerned about the contagious factor when I talked to them.

In the meanwhile I am keeping a check on my skin. I worry about every little pimple that pops up that it may be more than a pimple.

[justme23]

There is absolutely no way I'd be in that pool... and if the teacher won't do or say anything about it then I'd go to the dean. That is just plain nasty and they'd either kick her out or give me my money back... period.

[IthinkNOT!]

I am planning on talking to the teacher tomorrow about all this. Her options are:

A. Kick little miss MRSA out of the pool until she has a doctors clearance.
B. Plan on testing me at another location so that I can complete the class without worrying about it.
C. Or go ahead and flunk me for the days I will be missing between now and the end of the semester.

I really don't want to make a big deal out of it, but it does piss me off. Plus both my mom and dad have immune system problems right now, I do not need to get this and pass it on to either one of them. For me it may be a slight skin infection, but to them it could be alot worse. The pool we use for our class is a public pool, and alot of older people come in and do their therapy. None of them need this either.

[tljohn123]

a woman I used to work with had an outbreak of this. Nasty open sores and everything. She was NOT allowed to come back to work until after a 2 week regiman of antibiotics and she had to be fully covered as well. Also, my cousin's FIL got it. While he was in the hospital, we had to wear scrubs, masks, gloves, the whole shebang. And he got it in his bones. Two years later, he is just learning how to walk again.

[IthinkNOT!]

Update:

Talked to my swim teacher this afternoon, and we will not longer be having swim class. There have been 6 reported cases of MRSA this week. All of which can be traced back to the pool and pool area.

The earliest reported case was a week and a half ago. The girl is 22 years old, she was

in the Special Olympics swim team. The only places the ever went was to her own home

and to our pool. She started complaining 2 weeks ago that her leg hurt. At first the

doctor thought that she had pulled a tendon in her knee. And prescribed bed rest and

that the only exercise she should be doing was in a pool environment so as not to put

too much stress on it. Over the weekend she had a tiny blister pop up on her knee, the

doctor did tests and she tested positive for MRSA. Her doctor attempted to lance and

pack the area, only to discover the area was already to infected for that. At 3pm today

the girl underwent surgery to cut part of the meat off her leg. Her doctor has warned

her family that she may undergo more surgery before all is said and done. I feel so sorry

for this girl, she is 22 but has the mentality of a 5 year old. All she knows is that her leg

hurts, and that she can't eat until after surgery. She doesn't understand what is

happening to her.

My swim teacher is beyond livid that someone would knowingly infect other people with this.

The girl in my swim class started showing symptoms over a month ago. The nasty boils

that kept coming back. She was unsure about what was going on, but then once she

had a diagnoses she continued coming to the pool.

And today, when she was told that she was no longer welcome in any pool in this

county until she had a doctors clearance, because of her diagnosis. And she was told

about the other reported cases, all she could say was that she was going to sue those

people for making her sick. She threatened to sue the other girls family! That just got

me ill all over again.

Thanks for letting me vent about this, I know that some have to be tired of hearing about it, but it is better for me to write here than try to work this out IRL.

[BeanieLuvR]

I feel so sorry for the 22 year old girl and the rest of the people who caught it. :( I can't believe anyone would go in the pool with open sores knowing they have it. I think if anyone needs to be sued it is her for being such a nitwit and endangering others.

[bonniejeanne]

Dr. Oz just talked about this on Oprah today. I was pretty much horrified at what happened to those people. One little 11 year old girl just had a sore throat, which spread to her lungs, and she died. Dr. Oz said it could infect just a little spot where you might even scratch at eczema. Any kind of scratch or cut. Absolutely horrifying.

[IthinkNOT!]

Update:

The 22 year old girl lost yet another chunk of flesh out of her leg yesterday, and they may possibly be taking more on Saturday. Please keep this girl in your thoughts and prayers, whatever it is that you do!

The one that we think infected everyone has been bragging that she plans to sue, because her doctor is telling her that there is no way that she spread this. I have officially had enough of the situation and finally told the girl what I thought.

I told her that there was nothing wrong with the fact that she had contracted this, that it could have happened to anyone. Where she went wrong was when she knew something was wrong, and had a diagnosis, and still came into an area where she knew she could potentially expose others without taking precautions. And that at the point she did that is when she lost what little respect I had for her. Told her she should have stopped to think before she did that. Only I wasn't quite as nice to her.

[buglebe]

Update:

The 22 year old girl lost yet another chunk of flesh out of her leg yesterday, and they may possibly be taking more on Saturday. Please keep this girl in your thoughts and prayers, whatever it is that you do!

The one that we think infected everyone has been bragging that she plans to sue, because her doctor is telling her that there is no way that she spread this. I have officially had enough of the situation and finally told the girl what I thought.

I told her that there was nothing wrong with the fact that she had contracted this, that it could have happened to anyone. Where she went wrong was when she knew something was wrong, and had a diagnosis, and still came into an area where she knew she could potentially expose others without taking precautions. And that at the point she did that is when she lost what little respect I had for her. Told her she should have stopped to think before she did that. Only I wasn't quite as nice to her.

I think she is lying to all of you. She should be sued by the family of the 22 yr old and if she went swimming even one time after the pool managers were aware of her condition they should be included in the suit. I doubt that any doctor would tell her she could go swimming. If a dr packs a wound he would not tell any patient they could go swimming. Infact they usually let you shower but not get in a tub with a packed wound unless it is a small tub that they can soak only the affected area in. Doctors are so aware of the consequences of MRSA. When I went into the hospital the last time they cultured MRSA in my nose when I was admitted!! They said many of us have it. I wrote about it on here before when that happened. I was sent home to treat it. MRSA is so so scary and is definitely not something to play around with regardless of how common it is.

[belle5691]

I just saw on tv a commercial for a new website about MRSA. It is about the Community Acquired Infection. It looks really good.

It is:

www.stopmrsanow.org