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dr. jay
climber
petaluma, ca
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Oct 13, 2008 - 05:03pm PT
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MRSA is a mutated version of the Staph Aureus bacteria that has been around for quite a long time but within the last few years has become wisespread throughout the population. the MRSA in the coummunity setting (c-MRSA) however is a completely different entity than what you would pick up in the hospital, nursing home, etc. (h-MRSA). the c-MRSA is much more virulent than non-MRSA in that people with normal immune systems can still get significant infections.
previously it would only cause problems in immune-compromised individuals, and if a normal person got an infection it was easy to treat with the usual antibiotics (Keflex, Dicloxacillin, Amox). when people started failing the usual treatment and having serious complications everyone realized things had changed, but much of the hype and hysteria was based on a few individual cases and not what was found in common practice. the c-MRSA is easily treated with the proper antibiotics and treatment (including draining abscesses).
many problems still arise when the wrong medicine is chosen, but since at least 60% of soft tissue infections now are MRSA, it shouldn't sneak up on any practitioner. also good wound care is really important. Mazzy's partner chewed up his skin on the rock so now it wasn't doing its thing to keep out all the nasties, and since the vally is a veritable petri dish (and proper sanitation isn't really possible) there is bound to be colonization picked up in a public place. once the bacteria gets past the barriers it can really go to town on your body in a hurry. the good news though is that it will heal fully without any significant sequelae (other than cosmetic perhaps) but there's no reason your man shouldn't be out climbing again down the road. good luck.
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Oct 13, 2008 - 05:20pm PT
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Back in February 1993, I noticed that my right elbow was becoming a bit swollen. So I saw a doctor and he prescribed me antibiotics. The next day he got a hold of me and wanted to admit me to the hospital (Contra Costa Hospital in Martinez).
I spent eight days there. The elbow and lower arm had swollen quite large. The diagnosis was cellulitis. I was on an IV drip all that time. One of the hospital doctors said that if the infection had reached my heart, it could have been potentially fatal.
Several days earlier, prior to the infection, running and playing with my dog, I fell and slightly scratched my right wrist, a minor abrasion to say the least. However, that appears the only cause of the infection.
BTW, MRSA is becoming a problem in Irish hospitals.
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dougs510
Social climber
down south
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Oct 13, 2008 - 08:01pm PT
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Sheeww... Man, I'm glad your doing better dude. Scary stuff. I wonder where you picked it up at... C4, CVillage showers? Got any idea?
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McC
Trad climber
Livermore Ca
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Oct 16, 2008 - 11:57pm PT
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Best of luck to your buddy. Infections can be serious and are not fun. Suggest he ask his doc about Invanz, if the infection recurs.
I went through lots of antibiotics in 2006 prescribed by my doctor, before an Infectious disease specialist in December 2006 prescribed 6 weeks of 1x per day intravenous drip of Invanz (self administered).
Whacked my right elbow in late June 2006 in Peru, barely breaking the skin under my fleece and shirt. One climb and 4 days later, the pain, fever, and hallucinations on the flight home were intense. According to my doc and the lab, it was "just" Staphylococcus aureus from my skin and not MRSA. Chipped elbow, bursitis and bone infection. I took 2 weeks of Cipro. Still infected. This was followed by 6 weeks of Augmentin. In August, back to Cipro. Elbow got better with time, but swelled with moderate use.
In late November 2006, I third classed a fine ice and snow gully on the Wheeler Crest with one of my brothers. The recovering elbow functioned ok until I slipped on the icy trail (ouch!) on the hike out -- resulting in a highly swollen (within hours), re-infected and draining (within 24 hours) right elbow. MRI showed bone involvement (again), osteomyelitis at triceps tendon attachment point, infection of the bursa, and cellulitis. Infectious disease doc listened to my recounting of events, reviewed the lab test results, and prescribed the daily IV of Invanz via a PICC line in my forearm.
Peru trip report:
http://www.rock-ice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=129&Itemid=48
-or-
go to this site:
http://www.rock-ice.com/ -and- do a search for "PeruPeru"
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Jaybro
Social climber
wuz real!
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Oct 17, 2008 - 12:24am PT
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Is this what almost killed* Platinum Rob a while back?
* as I remember he got an ankle goby on Liquid Sky, 12/24/19?? then got it infected in the "leach fields, below El Cap" somewhat later, life saved by anibiotics at the valley clinic when the red streaks began to sprint toward his heart.
-or similar.
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David Nelson
climber
San Francisco
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Oct 17, 2008 - 12:31am PT
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I agree with Micronut, there are no brown recluse spiders in California. I researched this out for my ER recently, spoke with a spider expert at UC Davis who specialized in brown recluse spiders. He stated that the only brown recluse spiders (Loxoceles reclusa) in CA are the ones that come in on shipments of lumber, household moving boxes, and such. (The condition of being bitten by a brown recluse is called loxocilism, due to the genus name. Just thought you might like to know.) The course is also not at all typical for a spider bite. It is a bacterial infection. A spider bite should develop, in time, a necrotic (dead) center, if it is serious.
MRSA stands for methicillin resistent staphylococcus (shorthand is "staph") aureus, meaning it is a staph aureus bug that has developed (calling it "mutated" is correct but not proper use) resistance to the drug methicillin and by implication, resistance to the line of penicillins, both natural and synthetic. We need to treat it with a non-penicillin type drug. Bactrim by mouth and vancomycin by IV are standard treatments. They are no more contagious, as has been stated, just very resistant and aggressive.
(I am an orthopedic hand surgeon, so I have to deal with these from time to time. Does not mean I am right, but I have studied it a bit, and you might say that my beta comes from having done the route, so to speak.)
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Oct 17, 2008 - 01:30am PT
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Bad news to take a fall and scratch your leg open out in the boondocks.
If you have packed in, getting out on a leg swollen up to the size of a grapefruit....wait.
Grapefruit does not work here.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Oct 17, 2008 - 03:37am PT
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Likely worse news to take a fall and scratch your leg open in a crowded urban gym...
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HighDesertDJ
Trad climber
Arid-zona
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Oct 17, 2008 - 05:12am PT
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Hey that's cool. I didn't realize that CA MRSA was that much more virulent.
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JuanDeFuca
Big Wall climber
Stoney Point
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Oct 17, 2008 - 01:31pm PT
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So was it some type of Staff Infection?
Juan
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Oct 17, 2008 - 02:36pm PT
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Glad to see you are doing well!
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randomtask
climber
North fork, CA
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Oct 17, 2008 - 05:00pm PT
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MRSA might not be happening at such an alarming rate if we didn't have antibiotics in most of our cleaning supplies and doctor's over prescribing them ( look, I know that it isn't Doctor's faults-if they don't give someone antibiotics and they die they get their asses sued hard). But still-don't buy antibacterial soaps for household use. Mechanical action and emulsion (due to the fat in soap) will sufficiently get rid of any household bug. And don't take them if you know you don't need them-listen to your body.
-JR
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Dr. Rock
Ice climber
http://tinyurl.com/4oa5br
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Oct 17, 2008 - 06:22pm PT
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Beans and Bacon, lets eat!
Not now Hoss, we got work to do.
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dr. jay
climber
petaluma, ca
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Oct 19, 2008 - 09:53am PT
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the ca-MRSA bugs are more virulent because they have developed a toxin that can break down a normal host's defenses that prior s. aureus could not. the toxin also causes a major inflammatory response so these infections are incredibly painful.
and about spider bites--when a patient says they were bitten by a spider they have more than triple the likelihood of a MRSA infection. i don't know why everyone picks on spiders, must be some innate arachnophobia humans have or something.
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johnboy
Trad climber
Can't get here from there
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The last few years I noticed my lungs getting weaker. After many regional doctors couldn't figure it out I opted to go to the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis. They found I had a a mycobacterium parascrofulaceum infection. Scary sh#t. I've been on a high daily regiment of antibiotics for almost a year now and still feel like I'm not quite winning the battle. They mix up my antibiotics every now and then as this thing can easily mutate.
I sure hope your virus in Cali isn't as bad and none of you catch it or any other viruses.
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Thanks Ed . . . fantastic information.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Goldenville west of Lurkerville
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Some of those bacteria have been traced back to Werners van...
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