Staphylococcal Infections Health Article

Prognosis

Most healthy people who develop staph infections recover fully within a short time. Others develop repeated infections. Some become seriously ill, requiring long-term therapy or emergency care. A small percentage die.

Doctors and researchers are becoming increasingly concerned about staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics. A bacterium that is considered resistant is one that can no longer be treated effectively using the antibiotics that are commonly prescribed for that type of infection. Resistant staph infections can usually be treated effectively with other antibiotics. Children who are most at risk for resistant staph infections are those who have been in the hospital or have serious underlying medical conditions. According to the Centers for Disease Control, although it is not clear how many cases of resistant staph infections occur each year, they are thought to be very rare. They recommend treating all infections promptly and only prescribing antibiotics when there is an underlying bacterial cause for the disease (antibiotics are not effective against viruses) to help reduce the occurrence of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Prevention

Healthcare providers and patients should always wash their hands thoroughly with warm water and soap after treating a staph infection or touching an open wound or the pus it produces. Pus that oozes onto the skin from the site of an infection should be removed immediately. This affected area should then be cleansed with antiseptic or with antibacterial soap.

To prevent infection from spreading from one part of the body to another, it is important to shower rather than bathe during the healing process. Because staph infection is easily transmitted from one member of a household to others, towels, washcloths, and bed linens used by someone with a staph infection should not be used by anyone else. They should be changed daily until symptoms disappear, and laundered separately in hot water with bleach. Children should frequently be reminded not to share brushes, combs, or hair accessories.

Parental concerns

Staph infections are most likely to occur after a child has had surgery or a wound of some kind. A good way to help prevent staph infections of wounds is to keep the wound clean and dry. Children who have staph infections, especially skin infections, should be kept away from others whom they are likely to infect, and their bedding, clothes, and other things that may have touched the wound should be cleaned with hot soapy water and bleach.

BOOKS

Honeyman, Allen, Herman Friedman, and Mauro Bendinelli, eds. Staphylococcus Aureus Infection and Disease. New York: Kluwer Academic, 2001.

PERIODICALS

Zoler, Mitchell L. "Community-Acquired MRSA Infections Rising: Pediatric, Soft Tissue Infections." Family Practice News 34, no. 11 (June 2004): 7–8.

Tish Davidson, A.M. Maureen Haggerty