MRSA

[BootmanLA]

1 hour ago, FunCheerSlut said:

Well, now I am sufficiently and totally freaked out. It sounds like I have been lucky and naive about MRSA.

I recognize that I come into casual contact with a lot of the types of venues described. So thank you for sharing your experiences so that I now know what to be more mindful of and to take as many reasonable precautions as possible. It sounds like everyone's experience has almost been what I would describe as happens-stance. If that makes sense...like almost nothing you could have done or could thought to have done differently [to avoid it]...???

Thank you. I appreciate the warnings and I will do my best to heed them.  xoxo hugs and kisses

MRSA isn't widely known - certainly not widely ENOUGH known. So don't beat yourself up about that.

The thing about the precautions - like the handwashing we were encouraged to do when the pandemic first came out - are common-sense things that we should be doing ALL.THE.FUCKING.TIME - and that nonetheless too many people omit even now, going into the 4th year of Covid.

The friend I mentioned who's manic about wiping down things in the gym? He's that way because he got a MRSA infection several years ago, one that his doctor insisted couldn't be that because it was "rare", and only when it wouldn't heal after TWO FUCKING MONTHS did the doctor finally have it cultured. In the intervening years, MRSA has become much more widespread, especially in places like gyms and hospitals, where different bare skin comes in contact with the same solid surfaces (weight benches, chairs, guerneys, wheelchairs,  whatever) on a constant basis and very little effort is made to sanitize them in between. So other than wiping down surfaces yourself before touching them, it's true there's not a lot you can do to avoid it, especially if a facility doesn't do that kind of steady cleaning themselves.

On the bright side: my forehead is back to normal except for a little divot where the dermis has not yet expanded back over the spot where the largest infection colony was (though the epidermis has grown to cover it).

[viking8x6]

14 hours ago, BootmanLA said:

In the intervening years, MRSA has become much more widespread, especially in places like gyms and hospitals, where different bare skin comes in contact with the same solid surfaces

Basically, Staphylococcus aureus (the bacteria of which MRSA is a particular flavor) is everywhere people are, because it is a normal skin bacterium we all carry, that normally doesn't cause much trouble. And anywhere MRSA goes, it can (and does) transfer that DNA with the genes for drug resistance to the local  S. aureus bacteria. So washing people and things is a GOOD idea. But also, taking care of your skin is a good idea, so that your personal staph bacteria stay on the outside and don't get overpopulated. Because as long as that's the case, it doesn't matter whether they are antibiotic-resistant or not.

 

[ErosWired]

From the No-Good-Deed-Goes-Unpunished Department:

So there was this Top last week in Illinois. I mentioned him elsewhere as notable because he brought no fewer than three bottles of poppers and huffed them like they were the last bottles in existence, thoroughly ruining any chance he had of an erection, and then spent the better part of an our drizzling lube into the crack of my ass and sliding his cock along it trying to coax a woody. The good deed was that I tolerated this.

The punishment for the good deed became evident the next day, after I’d traveled to my next stop and realized I had a dozen red spots on my ass. I assumed these, however, to be bites from bedbugs - always a hazard in hotel hosting - except that by the following day the bites were infected, and in two days I had the beginnings of an abscess on my ass on the right side. Bedbug bites do not behave this way.

Then I remembered something, just a glance I had seen in the dark back at that first hotel with Mr. Slip-n-Slide - he had had a couple of red spots on his lower abdomen.

Fuck.

Not only was it likely the guy had a case of MRSA, he had spent an hour massaging it into my ass.

Fast-forward to today, twelve days after that encounter - the abscess on my ass has begun draining on its own, thank God, but my doctor says incision may still be necessary. We’ll know next week. He’s got me on Doxycycline, antibacterial soap, and prayers.

[funpozbottom]

I've had a couple abscesses on my scalp this year. The most recent was on the back of my neck, just above the hairline. It quickly grew from the size of a pimple to the size of my palm in a just a couple days. Even after I started antibiotics, the infection continued to spread, causing severe pain and several days of fever.  I still have a slight bump and some temporary hair loss to the effected area.  Having dealt with an infection on the skin, I can see how a generalized Staph / MRSA infection could turn deadly.  

[viking8x6]

15 hours ago, funpozbottom said:

Even after I started antibiotics, the infection continued to spread, causing severe pain and several days of fever. 

If that ever happens (continued spread and worsening symptoms after starting antibiotics), it is a red flag that the causative agent is resistant to those antibiotics and you should get back to the doctor ASAP to follow up. Because we don't want that shit spread around.

[inmyass262]

On 11/3/2023 at 9:35 PM, ErosWired said:

From the No-Good-Deed-Goes-Unpunished Department:

So there was this Top last week in Illinois. I mentioned him elsewhere as notable because he brought no fewer than three bottles of poppers and huffed them like they were the last bottles in existence, thoroughly ruining any chance he had of an erection, and then spent the better part of an our drizzling lube into the crack of my ass and sliding his cock along it trying to coax a woody. The good deed was that I tolerated this.

The punishment for the good deed became evident the next day, after I’d traveled to my next stop and realized I had a dozen red spots on my ass. I assumed these, however, to be bites from bedbugs - always a hazard in hotel hosting - except that by the following day the bites were infected, and in two days I had the beginnings of an abscess on my ass on the right side. Bedbug bites do not behave this way.

Then I remembered something, just a glance I had seen in the dark back at that first hotel with Mr. Slip-n-Slide - he had had a couple of red spots on his lower abdomen.

Fuck.

Not only was it likely the guy had a case of MRSA, he had spent an hour massaging it into my ass.

Fast-forward to today, twelve days after that encounter - the abscess on my ass has begun draining on its own, thank God, but my doctor says incision may still be necessary. We’ll know next week. He’s got me on Doxycycline, antibacterial soap, and prayers.

Man almost the same thing happened to me a couple years ago. Hang tough brother it will get better.

[RawNYTop]

So is MRSA considered a STD?

[funpozbottom]

12 hours ago, viking8x6 said:

If that ever happens (continued spread and worsening symptoms after starting antibiotics), it is a red flag that the causative agent is resistant to those antibiotics and you should get back to the doctor ASAP to follow up. Because we don't want that shit spread around.

Yes. I was considering going to the hospital, but just at that point, the fever broke, pain started to ease and swelling started to subside.  At my follow up, they said it appeared to be healing as expected.  But I agree -- don't want it spread around. 

 

29 minutes ago, RawNYTop said:

So is MRSA considered a STD?

It's not an STD but it can be transferred by close skin to skin contact.  It used to be found primarily in hospitals, but now it's frequently found in community settings and can be picked up by handling something that someone else has touched, like, shopping cart handles, gym equipment, etc. 

[BootmanLA]

22 hours ago, RawNYTop said:

So is MRSA considered a STD?

I would further note that the medical term is now "STI" (sexually transmissible infection). It's a better term in that it focuses on the infectious agent (the virus or bacteria or fungus) and not the specific disease or diseases that it can cause. It's also better in the sense that some STI's do not necessarily lead to any disease, and some STI's can lead to more than one (completely different) disease. For instance, HPV is a virus, and it's an STI, but not everyone who gets HPV actually has any disease outbreak, and among those that do, there are multiple possible diseases that can develop.

Beyond that, "sexually transmitted disease" has long had a dirty connotation - it's thought of as something you got from having illicit, unapproved, "dirty" sex. But you can get an STI from anywhere, and while "disease" isn't inherently a bad word, coupled with sex it has bad associations.

So I always encourage people to use "STI" and not "STD".

[ErosWired]

It was interesting to see the result of the laboratory culture that came back from the swab, confirming that I did, indeed, pick up MRSA, and that it evidently found my flesh very much to its liking. “Heavy growth” was the descriptor. The report went on to detail which antibiotics this particular strain is resistant to - about half of all the antibiotics on the list.

”So, you’re lucky,” the doctor told me. “The one I prescribed for you works on this one.”

I said, “Lucky, lucky me. I caught a case of MRSA.”

He said. “…Okay, it’s a silver lining.”

 

[fuckholedc]

There are numerous articles online stating that garlic (and they mean lots of fresh garlic - far more than most people who don't already take garlic as a prophylactic imagine in fact) is a possible treatment for MRSA.  This is in "alternative medicine" territory and is not for everyone.

Here's one ref:   "Fresh Garlic Extract Enhances the Antimicrobial Activities of Antibiotics on Resistant Strains in Vitro"  [think before following links] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458355

"Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is often considered to be as a "superbug" (12). It was estimated that the number of MRSA infections in hospitals has increased significantly and the annual deaths from MRSA infections are even more than AIDS (18, 19). Garlic has been scientifically proven to be a powerful natural antibiotic against MRSA infections (12, 14). Ingredients in fresh garlic, other than illicit, have strong natural antibiotic effects (12). Garlic extract, DAS and DADS provide powerful protective activity against MRSA by affecting the pathogen distribution and plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, endothelial injury-associated proteins, and coagulation and anti-coagulation factors as well as lipid oxidation levels, and by boosting the immune system. In this study, FGE produced a strong antibacterial effect on all MRSA resistant to standard antibiotics, FOX, OX and PRL. However, the factorial analysis of FOX, OX or PRL and FGE indicated no positive interaction effects (P > 0.05); there exists no FGE antibiotic resistance-modifying activity against MRSA. The antibacterial effect of the combination of FOX, OX or PRL and FGE is only attributed to FGE."

 

[BootmanLA]

2 hours ago, fuckholedc said:

There are numerous articles online stating that garlic (and they mean lots of fresh garlic - far more than most people who don't already take garlic as a prophylactic imagine in fact) is a possible treatment for MRSA.  This is in "alternative medicine" territory and is not for everyone.

Here's one ref:   "Fresh Garlic Extract Enhances the Antimicrobial Activities of Antibiotics on Resistant Strains in Vitro"  [think before following links] [think before following links] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458355

"Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is often considered to be as a "superbug" (12). It was estimated that the number of MRSA infections in hospitals has increased significantly and the annual deaths from MRSA infections are even more than AIDS (18, 19). Garlic has been scientifically proven to be a powerful natural antibiotic against MRSA infections (12, 14). Ingredients in fresh garlic, other than illicit, have strong natural antibiotic effects (12). Garlic extract, DAS and DADS provide powerful protective activity against MRSA by affecting the pathogen distribution and plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, endothelial injury-associated proteins, and coagulation and anti-coagulation factors as well as lipid oxidation levels, and by boosting the immune system. In this study, FGE produced a strong antibacterial effect on all MRSA resistant to standard antibiotics, FOX, OX and PRL. However, the factorial analysis of FOX, OX or PRL and FGE indicated no positive interaction effects (P > 0.05); there exists no FGE antibiotic resistance-modifying activity against MRSA. The antibacterial effect of the combination of FOX, OX or PRL and FGE is only attributed to FGE."

 

Just to be clear: this paper did NOT find that garlic extract was a treatment for MRSA.

Rather, it found that garlic *enhanced the antimicrobial effects of the antibiotics* used to treat MRSA.

As is rather clearly stated in the "Conclusion" section of the paper: "The results suggest that FGE can improve the antibiotic sensitivity of these pathogens to some antibiotics."

So NO, garlic is nota  "treatment for MRSA" (at least not according to this paper). It's a way to ENHANCE the effectiveness of some already-known antibiotic treatments for MRSA. Huge difference there.

[120DaysofSodom]

everyone has mrsa

[BootmanLA]

2 hours ago, 120DaysofSodom said:

everyone has mrsa

This is not only false, but dangerously false.

Roughly 2% of people are *carriers* of MRSA - which is hardly "everyone", a word that you might consider looking up - but not even all of those 2% are infected with it.

I realize that virtually none of us here are doctors (and very few others are other medical personnel), but throwing out bullshit information like this in a health forum is downright irresponsible - especially when even a CURSORY google search like "How many people have MRSA" yields the correct answer repeatedly in the top results, including from the CDC (for the technical minded) and WebMD (for the average user).

[think before following links] https://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/healthcare/index.html 

[think before following links] https://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/understanding-mrsa 

[fuckholedc]

On 11/8/2023 at 10:08 PM, BootmanLA said:

Just to be clear: this paper did NOT find that garlic extract was a treatment for MRSA.

Rather, it found that garlic *enhanced the antimicrobial effects of the antibiotics* used to treat MRSA.

As is rather clearly stated in the "Conclusion" section of the paper: "The results suggest that FGE can improve the antibiotic sensitivity of these pathogens to some antibiotics."

So NO, garlic is nota  "treatment for MRSA" (at least not according to this paper). It's a way to ENHANCE the effectiveness of some already-known antibiotic treatments for MRSA. Huge difference there.

No - in the results section they clearly state:

Quote

Fresh garlic extract displayed evident inhibition properties against C. albicans and MRSA, yet weak inhibition properties against P. aeruginosa. 

Then they start talking about the synergistic effects of various antibiotics with fresh garlic extract and focus on that leading to the conclusion that you posted.

However they clearly state that fresh garlic extract (FGE) by itself "displayed evident inhibition properties against C. albicans and MRSA". 

The fact that they then emphasized that FGE showed a synergistic effect with some antibiotics may mean that they considered FGE by itself to not be clinically effective, although they did not state that.