How do I know if I have MRSA????

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This a true story and I hope no one will laugh at me.

I am a nursing student and I am currently working as a CNA in a hospital.

Today I just worked an evening shift and there were two patients on my floor that had MRSA. I was careful enough that each time when I entered their rooms, I would put my gown and gloves on. And I also washed my hands after working with them.

And here is the dumpest part of the story...:imbar

I went in to one of my MRSA patient's room and he said he wanted more "hot water" in his tea. So I took his cup (with the teabag in it) out and went to the kitchen to get some hot water. Since I was using tap water and wearing gloves, I was not able to tell if the water was "hot" enough. So what I did was put my nose and face "REAL" close to the cup to feel the steam. :uhoh3:

Now, my question for all of you smart people out there is, do you think that I can get MRSA from sniffing his saliver (which was on the cup that he used)?

I am very worry now because I have two young sons at home and we sometimes share food and utensils.

How do I know if I have MRSA? Do I need to get a titer to find out?:crying2:

i got the impression from reading this thread that it is possible some people think of staph as a nose germ. it is a skin germ, not that it cannot be in other parts of the body. staph just likes skin. i suppose the reason i am compelled to bring it up is that i would not want anyone to have the mistaken idea that one cannot carry staph germs around on their hands after contact, and give them to other people, because they can. i think someone said something like, "staph is the number on nose germ," or something. the other thing that kind of worried me was the implication or statement that staph is in only 20-30 percent of the population. i believe that the incidence is higher in the hospital population (also in intavenous drug users and people with insulin dependent diabetes and healthcare workers, and a few other things-- people on dialysis, etc). the CDC has info about this, better info than i have. i suppose i feel like i want to point this out because while i do not think mrsa should get in the way of pt care, by healthcare workers being fearful of germs, i still don't like the idea of people getting mrsa in their nose or anywhere else if it can be helped.
Yep... Staph is ubiquitous, like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson, it is every where: air, dust, dirt, turd, cats, dogs, gorillas, hair, skin, nails, formites, my computer key board... ewwww. And like Mary-Kate and Ashley, its ubiquitousness (is that a word) can sometimes become annoying. Staph is often the culprit in common infections like zits and boils. But it can become life threatening if it colonizes the blood, or any organ, and overtakes the bodies immune system. MRSA is more dangerous because fewer antibiotics will kill it, often the antibiotic "big guns" are needed.

About 20-30 percent of the US population has colonization in the nasal mucosa at any given time. That is why we commonly use nasal swabs to screen for MRSA.

Staph is present even in the cleanest hospitals. MRSA occurs in 20-60 percent of hospitalized patients. The incidents of MRSA differs regionally, and will be higher or lower at any given time.

And yes, if you are afraid of microorganisms, you are SOL. The only time you are steril is in the womb. Colonization of bacteria begins immediately after birth.

That said, the number one way to spread the MRSA strain of Staph is via the hands. Hence, wash your hand and practice Universal Precautions and the patients will thank you.

PS. I will get off my soap box... I worked as a lab tech for my college Microbiology class... I love microorganism. Yes, I'm a nerd, I know.

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I use to have this far side cartoon, a pic of a mushroom shaped cloud in the background, with bugs dancing on a flower in the forground! That I think is when my facination with microbes came into play really (even though the pic was of insects..I related it to microbes also)...when I realized these things were everywhere, can be of benifit and some not, but all trying to survive even at the cost of living creatures! WOW..got my respect really fast!

I really have a love/hate relationship with microbes...facination and fear. I am always interested in knowing more about them, and what best defense we have against ones we don't want. I guess I am a microbe nerd too!!!!! LOL.

I really would like to take more classes in micro :). I had so much fun with it, and really interested in pirons..wow what makes those things tick?!?!?!? And viruses too...they look like little space ships under the electron microscope, very structured for purpose...very logical (wow I sound like Spock!). Plus..something so very tiny is David and Goliath to me...very interesting, and something we shouldn't forget...it isn't the big things that will hurt us as much as the little tiny insignificant looking things that can come up from behind and get ya!

Remember that next time you walk out of a patient room without washing your hands..LOL!

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I use to have this far side cartoon, a pic of a mushroom shaped cloud in the background, with bugs dancing on a flower in the forground! That I think is when my facination with microbes came into play really (even though the pic was of insects..I related it to microbes also)...when I realized these things were everywhere, can be of benifit and some not, but all trying to survive even at the cost of living creatures! WOW..got my respect really fast!

I really have a love/hate relationship with microbes...facination and fear. I am always interested in knowing more about them, and what best defense we have against ones we don't want. I guess I am a microbe nerd too!!!!! LOL.

Hee, hee, hee... Glad to know I'm not the only germ nerd out there.

I remember that Far Side cartoon with the mushroom cloud. Also enjoy the cartoons with the Protozoa and Amoeba by Gary Larson.

My facination with microbes started during nursing school (Microbiology class)when I did a research paper on the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. It killed somewhere between 20-40 million people (depending on the source). If I remember correctly the scientists traced the epidemic back to some poor mess hall worker at Fort Riley USA. Also, did a book report for cultural anthrology on a book called "Plagues and People." It discusses how disease and microorganism contributed to the history and the evolution of the human race.

I agree with you... It's scary how such miniscule creatures can reek such havoc on the human body. I always have a bottle of clorox avaliable for cleaning.

Equally facinating is the symbiotic relationship these tiny one-celled organism have with us multicellular beasts.

Ol' well... call me crazy.

On a related note... I too reside in Oregon. Maybe there is something in the air in the Great North West that produces weirdos. (Although I just moved here)

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MRSA means methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylocossus (Staph) normally colonizes the human body. It became methicillin resistant after 50 years of treating Staph infections with Penicillin.

--errr..m shy to ask but ill ask anyway.. does this 50 years business is literally 50 years? :uhoh21:

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[quote

--errr..m shy to ask but ill ask anyway.. does this 50 years business is literally 50 years? :uhoh21:

HUH?

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HI,

I am a nursing student 2nd semester (Med-Surg) I was hoping that someome would guide me in the right direction. I am having trouble making ends meet to get through nursing school; I was thinking of becoming a certified phlebotomist and hopefully work per diem visiting patient home and taking blood. Is this a good idea? I need something flexible. If anyone has any suggestions as to what I could do for work as a nursing student that is flexible I would greatly appreciate your input

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Germicidal cleaning between EVERY use. Prime example as to why everyone in LTC facilities has MRSA. Address the issue with management.
I work in LTC and we use a small pulse ox to check sats on our sickest patients, and what i've been doing afterward is swabbing it down with an alcohol prep pad. is this sufficient? i dont know how else to clean this...any suggestions would be helpful.
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You did 2 things wrong to put yourself (and your babies) at risk. You took the cup out of the isolation room. And you wore contaminated gloves out into public area. If a Medicaid or JCAHO inspector had spotted you, you would be a target for an interview. Whatever MRSA buggies were on those gloves have now been deposited in the kitchen, microwave whatever you touched. Nothing and I mean NOTHING comes out of an isolation room and is taken into a public area. You will never be able to prove to an inspector that those gloves were clean or uncontaminated. Keep your ears and eyes open... listen and observe all that you can... this will be your best teacher!

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We culture (sputum, urine, nares) every new admit on the LTC vent unit where I work. Guess what they all have in their noses? Every last one of them has MRSA. Bactroban bid x7d. If they all have it I guess we all do by now, too. But we're colonized or we'd be pretty sick. Just one of the joys of nursing. Too bad we can't autoclave ourselves after every shift.

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We culture (sputum, urine, nares) every new admit on the LTC vent unit where I work. Guess what they all have in their noses? Every last one of them has MRSA. Bactroban bid x7d. If they all have it I guess we all do by now, too. But we're colonized or we'd be pretty sick. Just one of the joys of nursing. Too bad we can't autoclave ourselves after every shift.
confused. does bactroban kill MRSA? i would have thought would just prevent poss. infection from another bacteria. so am unclear why treating at all, let alone with bactroban. no time to look into this now but does anyone just know the answer? also curious as to who else (besides MRSA pts) gets the bactroban treatments.
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According to my drug handbook, it inhibits RNA and protein synthesis. So it works by stopping replication; it doesn't actually kill bacteria. But most antibiotics work that way. It is also used for skin wounds infected with MRSA and other kinds of staph and strep. So yes, it can eliminate the infection, assuming we are treating all colonized areas.

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Where I used to work did MRSA and VRE swabs on anyone returning to the facility who had spent 24 hours in active treatment or emergency. The only ones I remember having anything were the ones who came over marked as already having it.

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