English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

Can someone give me some insight ? My pre-teen son has a knee infection and the Dr. says it is MRSA and gave me Keflex. After reading a little I called and told her Keflex does not work against MRSA and Bactrim does. She then said she ASSUMES it is MRSA but won't know 100% until the culture comes back in 4 days. I asked her then why dont you just put him on Bactrim to kill the worser of two evils. She called in the prescription for Bactrim; my question is: will Bactrim kill whatever the infection is (MRSA and Non-MRSA) and is this a good idea ? My thinking is that we should attack the potential worse virus first, we can alway knock out the lesser next week if the culture comes back negative or the Bactrim does not work !! I guess what I am saying is it sounds like Bactrim is better than Keflex, so why not just use the better medication if that one will work for any baccterial infection INCLUDING MRSA ?? Please Advise !!

2007-10-19 03:38:43 · 4 answers · asked by John A 1 in Health Diseases & Conditions Infectious Diseases

4 answers

Bactrim is NOT the same as Keflex, one is a sulfa based antibiotic and the latter is a cephalosporin antibiotic, they do not work on the same infections. Generally Keflex is the stronger of the two.
Now, MRSA, is methlocyllin resistant staph aureus. Methlocillin is one of the strongest antibiotics known to man, this bug will laugh at bactrim and keflex, it laughs at most antibiotics if not all of them. Treatment when one is infected with MRSA, is aimed at preventing secondary infection with another organism, and hope the body can fight off the MRSA by itself.

2007-10-19 03:57:46 · answer #1 · answered by essentiallysolo 7 · 0 0

They two drugs are not the same, as the previous responder said.

Choice of antibiotics depends on the clinical suspicion and cultures results, as well as local drug sensitivities. If you son's dr. suspects/assumes it MRSA, then an infectious disease (ID) specialist should be consulted. If your son was notin hospital, i.e. caught the infection in the community (community acquired MRSA or CA-MRSA) some of the recommendations for management differ from hospital-acquired MRSA.

Keflex will not do much with MRSA, Bactrim seems to do a decent job at least until theculture results are back. You say it's a knee infection; I assume the doctor drained the site and cut away infected/dying tissue? This can be even more important than immediate antibiotic therapy in many cases.

If MRSA is confirmed, they may test for sensitivity to vancomycin, which is the mainstay of therapy for MRSA.

Again though, an ID consult is important. They will know the local situation with regards to bacterial sensitivities to drugs.

2007-10-19 06:33:19 · answer #2 · answered by Blah? 4 · 1 0

The nurse at the top is correct for most of her response about the difference between Keflex and Bactrim. They work differently, however, sulfa drugs can kill off MRSA when used in combination with others. Bactrim and Septra are NOT the drugs of choice, however, but combinations are being used with extended treatment times.

2007-10-20 09:08:11 · answer #3 · answered by Terry J 3 · 0 0

That is the problem with MRSA, nothing works to stop it now. You can go the gamet of antiboitics out there but you may not have any luck. If I were you, I would just cleanse the wound with hydrogen peroxide regularly and put some aloe leaf gel on it too. Sounds simple but if the more high-end antibiotics cease to eradicate it, trying something simple. Take lots of vitamin C also. Also make sure your house is spotless and use that hand sanitizer on everything along with hydrogen peroxide. Good luck

2007-10-19 06:15:23 · answer #4 · answered by metallic moment 5 · 0 0

fedest.com, questions and answers