What is your opinion of Staph infections? I saw where a school was shut down because of it!?

Question

I visited with a young Dr. about it and he went through a long story trying to explain it to me. Then I ask if he thought it was like impentigo and he grinned and said "yes"! Do you think it is a form of impentigo and antibiotics have been used so much it's failing to work?

Answer 1

It's hard to have an "opinion" about an infection. By the way, it's "impetigo."

Staph is not a FORM of impetigo, but when you asked if it is LIKE it so that you could understand the concept, then yes. Doctors have overused antibiotics, and trusting patients have followed their instructions. Further, the public has gone mad with hand sanitizers and the like, overdoing it at every turn. Now we are in a fine mess.

Earlier this year, my husband fell ill with a staph infection, and he spent one month on intravenous medication to control it. I had to adminster the meds at home morning and night, and it was an ordeal I would not wish on anyone.

Answer 2

I am not certain that it is a form of impetigo (I don't think it is; staph is not the same) but, I do know that it is very resistant to antibiotics so it becomes very serious because it can spread, is highly contagious and can even cause death. They say that if you are very fastidious in cleaning your hands and body, that it will help a great deal in keeping you from contacting it; also not sharing clothing or towels, especially at the gym. I do know that one girl who got it was a very careful and fastidious person and that her Mom was a nurse; she still ended up getting it and she died at age 19. This is not just a staph infection; this is a particular strain that is very difficult to treat. It is believed that antibiotics are used too often and that many people start treatment, get better before the medication is finished and just stop using it; this causes that person to become more resistant to healing when they use antibiotics at a later time. It is also thought that people who are super clean and use antibiotic soaps and hand sanitizers are making things worse for themselves by not having any resistance to germs. When people have some exposure, they can build up a resistance to illnesses and infections. For whatever reason, most antibiotics are not touching this particular strain of staph. That is a reason to be very careful and to do all that you can to keep from getting any infection. When you have a sore or opening in the skin, you need to keep it clean and covered at all times.

Answer 3

We had a bout of this at the school where I work at. It was on the news here as well. Then when we asked some of the staff at school about it, it was like it was a shhhh case. Nobody wanted to talk about it.

My opinion is Staph infection is a form of impetigo because impetigo is a skin disease with eruption of pustules.

Since it seems to spread from person to person, then it is contagious. So there for I think that all students and staff should be checked for Staph infection. If they are found to have it, they should be sent home until they have a note from their doctor saying that they are ok to come back to school. If it is found that there is a large percentage of students and or staff has this infection, then yes they should shut down the school until enough are well to have school open again. If they was to keep the students and staff in the school with this infection, there are not going to kill it out at all.

We were told that this infection that is going around can't no be killed that easy. I not only work at the school but take care of my parents as well. I for one don't want to take that chance of getting Staph infection and bringing it home to my parents....they don't need that on top of their bad health. I know for a fact that some patients in hospitals have even gotten Staph infection while in the hospital.

As far as the antibiotics not working, that is possible. I have always been told that any time a medicine is used a lot that your system builds up an immunity to it. Just like taking pain pills, if you take them every time you have a tiny pain, they won't do you any good when you are really hurting bad.

This Staph infection seems to be popping up all over the USA, personally it is scarying me.

Answer 4

No, as stated by the many responses above me.

My brother was in the hospital for an operation and they told us he could go home the next day. That night they called us to say he had died. He probably built up a resistance to the antibiotics they were giving him IV. As the news states, the bug is rampant in hospital environment. He went really quick. I am sure it was from Staph infection that killed him as he was very weak and a dialysis patient.

My Aunt was living with us when she told us she did not feel good. We took her pulse/BP which was very low and immediately called 911. When we got her to the hospital the doctor said there was nothing he could do as she had only a few hours to live. It was sepsis. No one knew where she got this infection. Could have started as a Staph infection. Be very scared. I thought hand sanitizers mainly consisted of alcohol?

Answer 5

There are several factors involved in the growth of Staph infections and other bacterial infections. First, we seem to have lost the ability to wash our hands on a basis designed to cleanse ourselves. Secondly, we have badgered our doctors to treat the simplest cold or flu with antibiotics. Well, antibiotics don't work on viruses, and that's what causes a cold. The doctors have to bear liability in this for being coerced by patients who don't know the difference between a bacteria and a virus.
The last factor I'm going to deal with makes me sound like some conspiracy theorist. It has to do with cases of necrotizing fasciitis, better known as the "flesh-eating disease". Several years ago, a company engaged in recombinant DNA research created a bacteria which eats oil. It was turned into a commercial product and has been used on several oil spills since. Many of the victims of the flesh-eating disease are fish eaters. Those fish, in some cases, come from waters where this bacteria was used to eat up an oil spill. So, I wonder if it is that bacteria which is causing the fasciitis.

Answer 6

I so agree with Blue. I worked for a pediatrician and parents demanded antibiotics all the time and they had had wipes and other sanitizing agents. Now we have "super bugs" that can't be killed. Methacillan Resistant Staph infections, vancomycin was the strongest antibiotic a few years back, now it isn't effective.
I will share a little story with you. I worked for the Hurricane Recovery Program at American Red Cross Headquarters in DC last year. One of our clients was pregnant during Hurrican Katrina. After walking through all the contaminated water, she acquired MSRA, had 9 surgeries to remove the decaying skin and her little baby was born dead. How much can one really suffer? My heart went out to this brave young mom

Answer 7

When I was 9 I had a Staph infection on my thigh. I don't remember what caused the original sore but it healed. And then it came back, big and red. It swelled up. Pussy, I got blisters. It was super painful. They put me in the hospital once they figured out what it was because I have 5 brothers and sisters.
I know I had surgery to repair the hole it left. I don't remember much more except it hurt really bad.
I do remember my Grandmother telling my Mom all she had to do was put some bacon on it and wrap it up and it would come to a head and then pop it. Thank God my Mom didn't listen. You couldn't get within 50 feet of it without me screaming anyways.
I still have an awful scar.
I got it at Girl Scout Camp. Camp Conestoga if I remember right. Not blaming it on them or anything. It was ages ago and then bam it's back again.
It's really serious stufff.

Answer 8

Impetigo is a skin infection caused by a bacteria. Staph bacteria are one type of bacteria that can cause impetigo, but there are other bacteria that can cause it too. There are strains of staphyloccal (staph) bacteria that are resistent to antibiotics, and yes they can be one of the causes of impetigo.

Few of us now alive in the US remember what it was like to live before antibiotics were available to treat bacterial infections. As scary as it is to learn that a bacteria has changed enough to resist treatment by some antibiotics, and that they may continue to change and leave us with fewer antibiotics.....I don't think we are back to not having any effective treatments like before the 1940s.

Misusing and overusing antibiotics does speed up the changes in bacteria that lead to drug-resistence, bacteria naturally evolve over time and evolving to resist drugs is part of that. Every time an antibiotic is prescribed to treat something not caused by a bacteria (like for a sore throat that is caused by a virus and not bacteria)...we speed up the changes.....every time we fail to take the entire course of prescribed antiobiotics (all the pills as directed)....we help these changes evolve.....every time we share an antibiotic with someone who it wasn't prescribed to..we speed the changes. Antibacterial soaps might even speed things up, but only because we don't wash with enough friction, for a long enough time, or rinse thoroughly.

The bacteria that caused the school closings is a specific strain of staph; "Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA). MRSA has been around since at least 1968, and is continuing to evolve. MRSA does often cause skin infections, but not all skin infections are caused by MRSA....and MRSA can cause other infections as well. Our best line of defense is prevention; washing our hands frequently, showering frequently, keeping our surroundings clean with hot water, detergent, possibly bleach solution, not sharing personal care items, all the hygeine practices our moms always told us. When we do get infections, we should follow our doctors instructions, exactly.

Answer 9

Please, never take a Staph infection lightly! It is not the use of antibiotics that has lead to seriously dangerous strains of Staph, it is the INCORRECT use of antibiotics that has given rise to these potenially deadly bacteria. When you start taking antibiotics, it is necessary to finish the entire prescription whether or not the symptoms have left or not! All bacteria have resistant members in their colony...IF you do not kill them (the last to hang on during anitbiotic treatment) they will give rise to more and more resistant strains. Considering that bacteria divide every 20 minutes, it doesn't take long for a new strain to arise. That is where we are at now...highly resistant strains that can kill! Love and peace, Goldwing

Answer 10

Something that alarms me very much is that all the health care professionals that I have been watching for about the past 6 months...do not wash their hands between patients!!!
I had an Xray done and even tho the
technician did not touch me, I laid on
the table (as did everyone else) that
was not sterilized between patients.
I was given various blood pressure
checks by "nurses" who never washed
their hands nor wore rubber gloves.
My own doctor never washes his
hands, but when he was training a
nurse practitioner, he put on gloves
just to show how it "should be done".
Hospitals and doctor's offices spread
disease by not using proper sanitation measures.