DH's secretary has MRSA!

[PrairieSong]

Tonight when dh came home for dinner he told me that his secretary has MRSA and that the end of her toe "blew out". She showed it to him; basically it is red and raw. She is on meds.

 

The daughter of a good friend of mine had MRSA a few yrs ago when she was in the hospital, and she almost died. I read that you can catch it through skin contact OR by touching infected surfaces. Does that mean if dh uses the secretary's computer (which he sometimes does) or because they use the same copier, or breathe the same air, that he could catch this?

 

She has had health problems for a while, hives, different things. I don't know if any of it was caused by MRSA.

 

Anyone have any info on this? Experience with it? Should I be worried?

[Crimson Wife]

:grouphug: Praying for your DH's secretary.

 

I did recently look up the stats on invasive skin infections and the good news is that only 7% wind up requiring hospitalization, and even among those cases 3/4 of the patients recover. :001_smile:

[3browneyedboys4me]

From what I know you have to be extremely careful with MRSA. I know that my sister's MIL was in the hospital and they 'thought' she had it and put a special marking on her door and included more precautions. I would not like it one bit if dh was coming into contact with that.

 

If I were him, I would not use anything on her desk. But, that is just me!

[NittanyJen]

Tonight when dh came home for dinner he told me that his secretary has MRSA and that the end of her toe "blew out". She showed it to him; basically it is red and raw. She is on meds.

 

The daughter of a good friend of mine had MRSA a few yrs ago when she was in the hospital, and she almost died. I read that you can catch it through skin contact OR by touching infected surfaces. Does that mean if dh uses the secretary's computer (which he sometimes does) or because they use the same copier, or breathe the same air, that he could catch this?

 

She has had health problems for a while, hives, different things. I don't know if any of it was caused by MRSA.

 

Anyone have any info on this? Experience with it? Should I be worried?

 

Unless your husband's secretary is typing with her toes, or has exceptionally poor hand hygiene (ie, does not wash her hands after applying antibiotic ointment or changing her bandages), no, he cannot catch MRSA from using her keyboard if she has it on her toe. Hopefully she is also not using the copier with her toes.

 

You cannot catch MRSA from breathing the same air.

 

Your husband can protect himself, if he is concerned, by practicing excellent hand hygiene-- wash his hands or use a 60% or better alcohol content hand sanitizer often, particularly after using shared surfaces-- keyboard, copier, telephone, door handles, before eating, and avoid touching his face, including eye, nose, or mouth rubbing behaviors. In the unlikely but possible event that her infection should transfer to her face, coffee cups, etc should not be in a shared area or washed in very hot water with detergent.

 

MRSA can be scary, but it should not be a cause for undue alarm. Commonsense practices should keep it in bounds. Hopefully the secretary is following commonsense procedures prescribed by her doctor-- the wound has most likely been ordered to be covered by a bandage under her clothing and practicing proper hygiene, including the frequent handwashing and/or sanitizer.

 

Ostracizing her or acting too freaked out will just make her feel badly, unnecessarily, unless she keeps bizarrely whipping that toe out and waving it around.

[Katy]

I have nursing experience.

 

MRSA is very common. Almost everyone has some of it nowadays, probably especially your husband.

 

In most people who are healthy and who have good immune systems, you have enough good bacteria on your skin to stop the growth of the bad, antibiotic resistant bacteria.

 

The thing to remember here is NOT to freak out and go all antibacterial everything on this. Make sure your husband's work bathroom has REGULAR, not antibacterial soap, and that he scrubs his hands for long enough (tell him to sing happy birthday in his head while scrubbing, before rinsing). The reason for this is that antibacterial soaps might contribute to antibiotic resistance by killing the good bacteria.

 

Have him wash his hands well when he comes home everyday. I used to not touch anything in my house until I changed out of scrubs.

 

Ask the secretary to refrain from uncovering her wound at work again. If your husband must work on her computer or touch things she's been handling, he should refrain from touching his face (the bacteria is commonly harbored in the nose) until he's washed his hands. Get him a big bottle of hand sanitizer for work and a smaller one for his car. I can't think of the name right now, but the one with the teal cap smells the best. Avoid antibacterial lotions, they don't have a high enough alcohol content to do much good.

 

If any of you get blisters, boils, or other infections that won't go away, insist to be tested for MRSA.

 

As far as cleaning goes, there is some disagreement over whether vinegar and peroxide (one after the other, order doesn't matter) will safely kill MRSA. Bleach solutions will kill it, but obviously that creates some chemical issues of its own.

[Liz CA]

Perhaps try some research on Silver Shield. There are reports that it has killed MRSA. It is available from Nature's Sunshine in liquid and gel form.

The poor woman!

[Stellalarella]

I had an MRSA infection on my face.

I lived.

My face lived.

I just used good clean technique.

No one else in my family got it.

[Momma2Luke]

look up medicinal manuka honey and mrsa.... its supposed to be able to stop mrsa bacteria from reproducing...

[chepyl]

As long as her toe is covered, and she washes her hands after touching it, it is fine. It is not airborn. You have to come in contact with the pus from the open wound. I would suggest disinfecting her desk, copier, phone, etc. Just to be safe. Lots of handwashing! Once we learned how to clean everything we never caught it when dd had it. She had recurrent infections from 9-24 months. Skin infections are very treatable as long as you catch it early. Some even heal on their own (DS and I each had one heal before we knew what we had).

 

Have your husband watch for any simple like bumps on his body. If you see one, wash it with hibicleanse soap (get at any pharmacy) and put neosporin on it. If you mis one and it develops a white head or drains, cover it and go to the doctor.

[tex-mex]

Unless your husband's secretary is typing with her toes, or has exceptionally poor hand hygiene (ie, does not wash her hands after applying antibiotic ointment or changing her bandages), no, he cannot catch MRSA from using her keyboard if she has it on her toe. Hopefully she is also not using the copier with her toes.

 

You cannot catch MRSA from breathing the same air.

 

Your husband can protect himself, if he is concerned, by practicing excellent hand hygiene-- wash his hands or use a 60% or better alcohol content hand sanitizer often, particularly after using shared surfaces-- keyboard, copier, telephone, door handles, before eating, and avoid touching his face, including eye, nose, or mouth rubbing behaviors. In the unlikely but possible event that her infection should transfer to her face, coffee cups, etc should not be in a shared area or washed in very hot water with detergent.

 

MRSA can be scary, but it should not be a cause for undue alarm. Commonsense practices should keep it in bounds. Hopefully the secretary is following commonsense procedures prescribed by her doctor-- the wound has most likely been ordered to be covered by a bandage under her clothing and practicing proper hygiene, including the frequent handwashing and/or sanitizer.

:iagree:

 

Ostracizing her or acting too freaked out will just make her feel badly, unnecessarily, unless she keeps bizarrely whipping that toe out and waving it around.

:smilielol5::smilielol5:

That sentence cracked me up... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!

[Jennifer3141]

I'd have a TON of questions for my DH if he caught MRSA from his secretary's TOE. :lol:

[Juniper]

I'd have a TON of questions for my DH if he caught MRSA from his secretary's TOE. :lol:

 

 

:lol: Love it!

 

I and my dd have had MRSA infections. Neither one of us was immuno compromised, practiced poor hygiene, or have ever abused antibiotics and disinfectants.

 

What I have learned is that some people are simply more susceptible to this type of staph. For our family it is the girls...the 4 boys(even with all their cuts and scrapes have shown no inclination towards a MRSA infection, even though I know it is on their skin and has gotten into wounds.)

 

My point is that even having a wound come into direct contact does not guarantee that your dh would catch it.

 

That said, I now use antibacterial soaps in all the showers, bleach all the showers, and have become slightly neurotic about handwashing.

 

It has paid off. This last week dd went to a friends house and came back with about 30 mosquito bites on her legs. This is a recipe for disaster for her as all her infections originated as bug bites. I had her wash two days in a row with Hibiclens and Safeguard. No signs of infection, but when I spoke with her Dr he still called in a topical antibiotic. Thankfully they are all healing normally.

 

I would have your dh bump up the antibacterial soaps (good ones) and make sure he is taking good probiotics.

[PrairieSong]

I'd have a TON of questions for my DH if he caught MRSA from his secretary's TOE. :lol:

 

You're too funny!!

 

Thanks for the advice and helping to set my mind at ease. The secretary is a very careful person who, I'm sure, does practice good hygiene. She is a very conscientious person in her office work and with her own family.

 

I read somewhere that you COULD catch MRSA through the air. I thought maybe, since she had a sore on her toe, that the MRSA was in her bloodstream and it could be very contagious. Thank you for helping to educate me.

 

I will tell dh to carefully wash his hands (he does always wash his hands) and to use hand sanitizer.

[ChristyB in TN]

We end up with a MRSA case in my family occasionally. It is inevitable with all the time spent in locker rooms and gyms. It is much more common than it used to be and the first time one of my kids was diagnosed I nearly lost my mind. It is scary, your husband's secretary is not. :D I hope she recovers quickly!

[Guest still learning2]

MRSA is not to be taken lightly.

 

Odds are that some of the sec's skin problems were earlier manifestations of MRSA.

 

MRSA is often mis-diagnosed and under-diagnosed. It can be very hard to successfully treat. If the right antibiotic is not found, the MRSA just gets stronger. In many patients, it comes back weeks, months, or even years later.

 

You do not have to come in contact with pus to contract MRSA. Most patients never determine where they were exposed.

 

I would not use her computer or sit at her desk. There is no way to be sure that she does not have other infected sites that haven't gotten to the glaringly obvious stage of her toe.

 

Cleaning the office with a bleach solution is a good ideal

 

MRSA is a reportable communicable disease in many states.

[Lisbeth]

I wonder iss he very carefuly showed him her toe and then re-bandaged and washed her hands well after that? How she handled showing her toe would be a clue to me about how seriously she was taking her hygiene around her MRSA.

[Mom0012]

My sdd had MRSA on and off for months before it was properly diagnosed. In the meantime, we were living in the same house, shared the same towels, her laundry with done with ours, etc. No one else in the house caught it. I did freak a little when I found out what it was (especially since my kids were kind of little) and took precautions (washing her towels, clothes separately mostly), but we never had any problems. She was not advised to stop going to school or anywhere else, either.

 

Lisa