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It's more likely that you never got rid of the bacteria. Staphylococcus (of which MRSA is just a subtype) can be carried in the nasal passages for example. This can be a very difficult carriage site to eradicate. If you have a chronic carriage, then you will seem to "reinfect" your self on a regular basis, but in fact, the bacteria was always there.

There are a few ways to try to address carriage states:
Culture the nose: If positive, obviously then proceed to treat as detailed below
Treat without the culture: Because the culture can be negative even though you have MRSA in the nasal passages. In this day and age of very high deductible insurance it may make better financial sense to treat ( as the treatment is relatively inexpensive) rather than to pay for an expensive culture, and possibly have to treat anyway.

There are quite a few treatment regimens to try to eradicate carriage states, and unfortunately none are proven to reliably work, but here is a representative one:
Oral antibiotic, including an agent which is known to work against the MRSA in your area, plus an agent such as rifampin. Agents such as rifampin are terrible when used alone, but quite helpful when used in combination. In addition, (and here's the fun part), nasal application of an effective anti-MRSA topical antibiotic ointment twice a day for as much as two to three weeks depending on the agent. Bactroban is a commonly used ointment.

None of this is held forth as medical advice and should not be considered a substitute for medical attention. If you are worried see your doctor. If you are still unhappy, seek a second opinion from a specialist in Infectious diseases

2006-12-13 18:43:05 · answer #1 · answered by Bufford M 3 · 0 0

Yes, since Staph is commonly found on your skin. All you need is another cut, boil, or abrasion that is not kept clean during its healing process.

2006-12-14 03:27:58 · answer #2 · answered by Henry 6 · 0 0

Yep..when your immune system is low, chances are it will recur. You'll be back on some hardcore antibiotics again (e.g. vancomycin etc.) and isolation.

2006-12-14 02:24:12 · answer #3 · answered by Jan 2 · 0 0

Yes you can be re-infected.

2006-12-14 02:22:10 · answer #4 · answered by dockidny 3 · 0 0

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