Mersa

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2004

MRSA is resistant to most antibioidics. The treatment of choice currently seems to be vancomycin.

The most important precaution is thorough handwashing. Contact precautions is the main precaution you need to take. Gowns, gloves and masks (if it's MRSA in the respiratory track). These precautions are mainly so the MRSA is contained in the patient's room and you don't bring it out to your other clients who many be compromised because they are elderly or sick.

If you yourself are in reasonable health, with no open wounds, your chances of getting it are slim. The idea is to not bring it out of the room and infect other patients.

Good luck.

michelle95 · Sep 7, 2004

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/Aresist/mrsafaq.htm

The above site is some basic info on MRSA. Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus seems to be becoming more prevalent. And, as the link suggest, there are a lot of health care workers that carry it. That's why it is so important to wash your hands.

As far as precautions go...it depends on the site infected. If someone has MRSA of the respiratory tract then yes you would need to wear a mask. However, if it is in the urinary tract, blood, or a wound...contact precautions should be fine.

If anyone has any additional info please post.

(We posted on top of each other, tweety) :)

michelle95 · Sep 7, 2004

Tweety, you've heard of VRSA haven't you? Pretty bad. :uhoh21:

Ms.RN · Sep 7, 2004

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/aresist/mrsafaq.htm
as far as precautions go...it depends on the site infected. if someone has mrsa of the respiratory tract then yes you would need to wear a mask. however, if it is in the urinary tract, blood, or a wound...contact precautions should be fine.
thanks guys for your info. heres what found out at cdc website regarding transmission:
how are staph and mrsa spread?
staph bacteria and mrsa can spread among people having close contact with infected people. mrsa is almost always spread by direct physical contact, and not through the air. spread may also occur through indirect contact by touching objects (i.e., towels, sheets, wound dressings, clothes, workout areas, sports equipment) contaminated by the infected skin of a person with mrsa or staph bacteria.
it does say that mrsa is not transmitted thorugh the air. so what is a correct information? :confused:

Katnip, RN · Sep 7, 2004

VRSA? I've heard of VRE. We generally only have signs for MRSA and VRE. Is VRSA new?

No matter. Neither one is something you want to go spreading around. We've been told by several infection control people that normal healthy adults will rarely, if ever become bothered by them if it doesn't get into an open wound.

In our micro class, we swabbed noses and 20% of the students were MRSA positive. They went through life totally asymptomatic.

kay · Sep 8, 2004

It is important to follow the infection control guidelines for the institution where YOU work!

The precautions vary from one health care setting to another.

The precautions required in a long term care setting (which would typically be focused only on handwashing with an antiseptic soap and (appropriate) use of gloves as a contact barrier would be very different from the precautions required in an intensive care unit or a neonatal unit (where precautions most likely would include isolation, use of masks, gowns and gloves).

In both these examples, the precautions are appropriate......

Why the great difference in precautions in the different settings????? :uhoh3:

Being colonized with MRSA is not a disease nor is it an "infection" - it simply means that along with the many billions of other bacterial cells that are all over our bodies we just so happen to carry some Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus bacteria. Heck, we don't even know which bacteria we are colonized with unless we do specific cultures!

30-40% of the population are colonised with run-of-the-mill, regular Staphylococcus bacteria (that are not antibiotic resistant). For the most part they live quite happily on our skin, inside our noses and pharynx BUT Staph is a bacteria that has the potential to cause an infection which is then treated by antibiotics.

If a person is colonised by MRSA, there is that same potential for developing an infection. This person is not sick - there are no symptoms of being a carrier of Staphylococcus, antibiotic resistant or not....However, the problem is that IF an infection does develop, there is less choice of antibiotics to treat the infection and the very real fear is that the MRSA bacteria will eventually become resistant to the antibiotics we are using to treat it ( there have been a few documented cases now of Vancomycin Resistant Staph Aureus).

Hence the need to control the spread of MRSA in settings where the population is at high risk of contracting an infection - in acute hospital settings where the rate of nosocomial infections is very high and where those high risk groups are - the immunosuppressed person, the elderly, the newborn, those with artificial ports of entry for infection (foleys, iv's, wounds, trachs etc etc ) which covers just about every patient in an acute care setting! :uhoh21:

MRSA for the most part is transmitted on the hands of health care workers!

(What does that tell us about handwashing!) :nono:

For a healthy adult with intact skin, MRSA is not a grave health threat in itself - there's an awful lot of nastier pathogens out there to worry about. But we do need to take the appropriate precautions to prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. You need to follow your institution's or unit's infection control guidelines because they have been developed according to the setting and the risks inherent in that particular setting.

Sorry, my post got a bit long...........

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2004

I've heard of VRE and not VRSA as well.

Interesting thing about the nares. I'm sure if someone swabbed me by now I'd have it colonized as well. How many patients do we take care of and then a week later we find out they have MRSA?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2004

it does say that mrsa is not transmitted thorugh the air. so what is a correct information? :confused:

it is confusing. back in the old days we didn't wear masks, even if it was repiratory, because it's not spread through the air. somewhere along the way we've just added the precaution of wearing a mask, but that's not as important as the gowns and gloves and frequent thorough handwashing.

the mask protects our nares and it becoming colonized from us maybe touching ourselves with our own infected gloves or hands. the moist warm environment of the nares seems to be a sight mrsa likes to plant itself.

relax, it's not like the flu or tb. :)

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2004

And there's MARSA-

methacillin aminoglycocide resitant staph a.

This is is gent resistant.

michelle95 · Sep 8, 2004

Here's a link about VRSA:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/hip/aresist/visa.htm

lasher · Oct 18, 2007

Here is what I think is happening. All humans have this bacterial growing in or on their skin. Only the sick, young, and recently operated on are getting this infection. Your not the person that needs to worry your patient is, you can be a carrier and not know it, get tested.

As far as the young imagane growing a billion new cells every week and only eating nuggets, chips and soda pop. they are all malnurished and their systems are stressed, they are also the breeding ground for all of these new killer bugs, think fresh food and dirty fingers. like mini petri dishes.

Now for the old and sick pretty obvious why they are supceptiable nothing against old peolpe but they have been eating an american diet and not exercising for 75-80 years not a profile of good health.

Well there you have it bad nutrition followed by feeding germs a diet of fresh cells and eliminating the week germs using antibiotics. Think how healthy humans would be if we only saved the strongest ones that were resistant to everything known to nature.