Just a regular boil or something else?

Question

The boil is located on my lower right back/upper butt cheek. It looks a little infected, It doesn't hurt when I touch it either. I am thinking it may be from an infected hair follicle but with the outbreak of MRSA I thought I should check and see what some one else thinks.

Answer 1

Unfortunately, you can't tell if a skin infection is MRSA simply by looking at it or describing it. A culture is required to tell for certain. A culture is where the doctor obtains some of the pus and sends it on a swab to a laboratory which will put it in a vat full of food for bacteria - the lab will then note which bacteria grow and let the doctor know if it's MRSA or not. Because you have to wait for the bacteria to grow, it can take 2-3 days for results to come back.

Mild infections can often be treated by warm compresses four times a day for 15 minutes each time. Larger infections or infections which are accompanied by fever or chills or severe pain or nausea should be seen by the doctor. Infections that are getting larger should also be seen by the doctor.

Sometimes the doctor elects to do a culture, sometimes the doctor simply elects to treat the infection as if it were MRSA (this is often done if the prevalence of MRSA is high in a given community as it is where I live). Sometimes there is no pus available to culture and then doctor must make his/her decision without this piece of information.

Answer 2

Most MRSA infections start with a boil-like lesion. What is different than your average boil is the pain, swelling and redness associated with a MRSA infection. Be on the lookout for increased pain, redness, swelling and if the surrounding skin is warm to the touch as these may be signs of possible MRSA. Otherwise, apply warm compresses as needed for comfort.

Answer 3

you said it...MRSA....call the Dr. do not wait even another day...that is a nasty deadly virus. 1st thing in the morning, if not sooner. call.