My mom has MRSA. How contagious is it if she is really careful and is on antibiotics?

Question

My mom has MRSA. How contagious is it if she is really careful and is on antibiotics?

Answer 1

Look it up on google and you will get all your answers there.    I thought I had it once, but it wasn't it.   I wish your mom good luck and hope she does well with this.    

Answer 2

Look it up on web md or something. my dad had that last september. If he had waited 24 more hours he wouldn't be here. Go 2 the er. It is VERY contagious we had 2 wear the gowns n gloves to c him.

Answer 3

NEVER EVER GOOGLE MEDICAL CONDITIONS....there is so much inaccurate information on the web.  Please visit www.cdc.gov for all of the most accurate and up to date info on diseases.  This is the Center for Disease Control website.

MRSA is contagious; however, the only way it is spread is through skin to skin contact.  You must have an open wound on the body or comprised skin for MRSA to infect you.   Your mom being on antibiotics is certainly a great thing, because it is treating the infection.  The trick is that it needs to be the right antibiotic for the infection.  MRSA is resistant to some antibiotics, and a doctor should always do culture and susceptability testing if MRSA is suspected.  This test will allow a laboratory to test the bacteria and make sure the infection is able to be resolved with the correct antibiotics.

Recommendations include:

-Finish all antibiotics until the prescription is complete

-WASH HANDS!!!

-Keep the wound adequately covered. FOR EXAMPLE: **this means if the wound is on your arm, please have it covered with a bandage and a shirt***

-If her symptoms are not resolving, she needs to go back to her physician...because she was probably given an antibiotic that her infection was resistant to.

  

Answer 4

Staff is a very infectious bacteria in the right places and doses. If there is an excessive amount of staff on your food, you can get food poisoning. If staff gets into an open cut you can get an infection. If staff gets into your lungs, you can get pneumonia. If it gets into your blood stream, you can get toxic shock syndrome.

That being said, you have staff on you skin right now. Staff is everywhere. There is just as much staff on a healthy person as someone who has an infection. There are always small amounts of staff on your food. There are colonies of staff in your nose (that's one of its favorite places to live).

So, I guess it's contagious. It's certainly possible to get it from another person. But there is so much staff on EVERYONE at all times, that it's really not a big deal. You don't need to take special precautions around someone with staff because everyone has staff.

As long as you don't expose her pus to your open skin (like a cut), you don't need to worry.

If you're really concerned, however, you can do a household eradication by putting Bactriban in your (everyone's) nose (with a q-tip) twice a day.