Hi. I joined this group awhile ago and posted only once because I
have been so busy getting Justin's MRSA under control. I have read
everyone elses tales however.... now I have found out that we have
given it to a friend's child, which scares me to death. the basics:

Justin is almost three. has had two confirmed MRSA "boils" on his
thighs, and was colonized as well. The first one was in April. It
was huge and had to be surgically drained with a hospital
admittance. The second was caught earlier and treated with
clindamycin. He has never been hospitalized before and was in
contact with no one who was infected or colonized that we know of.

He is adopted and his first 18 months were in foster care, so he may
have picked something up there but he was in my home for one full
year before he developed his first boil.

At the suggestion of an infectious disease specialist, we had
everyone in our family, grandparents, babysitter, neighbors, etc.
all cultured to see if they are colonized... no one was. Then,
while Justin was treated with twice the normal dose of nasal
bactroban, we all had to bathe with a very strong antibacterial soap
for a week. Then, during this same time, we "purged" the house of
any germs by cleaning EVERY SINGLE ITEM THAT JUSTIN MAY HAVE TOUCHED
with bleach. He was then cultured again and came back negative.

three days after his last culture, my daughters had friends sleep
over. The day after they left our house, one of the friends "broke
out" on her face... it worsened and was cultured to be MRSA.

Now, Justin has another boil and the culture is being done today.
I'll let you know.

The ID doctor had said that it was nearly impossible for someone
to "catch this" from J unless they were very susceptible and also
touching anything that may be oozing from an active infection. He
had no sores when these girls were over.

Okay, that's it. I have vented.

Best wishes and prayers to all,

Lisa