Long story short, my dad was placed in a nursing home last year due to vascular dementia.

Found out today he’s been diagnosed with MRSA. Googled it but results are thin on prognoses. Anyone any idea how fecked he’s likely to be?

Lots carry it, our boy got something similar whilst in hospital. Didn’t affect Him but had to be barrier nursed to prevent spread.

I think it’s only a problem if it gets in the wrong place, ie a wound.

screened positive or actually infected in a wound?

He may have had MRSA for a while, only just recently identiied, has he had some intervention recently. Prognosis, depends largely on his general health. And to some degree on where the MRSA is. Its one of these bugs that lots of people carry, only gets you if you are very weak in other ways.

Usual caveat, not a doctor

I wasn’t aware you could have it somewhere rather than just have it, so I didn’t ask. I thought it was more like flu.

Picked up on a blood test. Aside from the aforementioned, he’s got long term vascular issues elsewhere (had a toe amputated and a nasty necrotic would on his ankle) and he’s been hiccuping constantly for five days (prescribed Omeprazole, which I’ve had myself in the past for gastric reflux).

He lost a ridiculous amount of weight in hospital (and didn’t have a lot to lose to start with, he’s a slight build like me), but had been getting back to a sensible weight in the last few months. So general health wise, who knows.

pretty much what Sam says. Its a bug that a significant % of the population carry and probably a majority of healthcare workers.

It all depends where it is and his general health but most folk live with it with no issues. Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureous. Staph aureaus is a normal bug found on every ones skin, this is the antibiotic resistant variety so if its simply on his skin or even in his nose or throat its probably no issue. If its in a wound or his bloodstream it is

Also,

How contagious is it? Should I be concerned as to how many parents this might now affect?

We all carry Staph Aureus on our skin. A proportion of us carry Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus on our skin. It’s a great argument for the process of evolution; we introduced an antibiotic and this created a selection pressure, allowing those bacteria with resistance to said antibiotic to develop further.

When you say ‘diagnosed’, do you mean he has been swabbed and found to be MRSA positive?

If we find MRSA by swabbing people, it means they are colonised with it; in other words, it’s there, but it’s not causing any problems. Classically, old men in shared accomodation seem prone to this.

Being colonised doesn’t mean infected; it just means that it’s been found and noted. If we find it in a hos[pital setting, we would put some cream up his nose three times a day, use a mouthwash or dental gel 4 times a day, and wash him in a Chlorhexidine soap once a day.

If it’s in a wound, or in a blood culture, things are a bit more serious, but would be treated with a course of antibiotics plus the topical treatment above.

Some people are simply carriers of MRSA; they get swabbed, it gets found, and we never get rid of it. It doesn’t affect them, but means they need to be nursed carefully to avoid passing it to anyone else.

If its in a wound or his bloodstream it is

I’d assume it is given that it was picked up on a blood test?

Crossed posts – picked up on a blood test? Check that again – Its probably a wound swab. Very unlikely to be a blood test and if its in his blood he will be very unwell I would have thought. Blood should be sterile

As above if it gets in a wound its nasty, and can take a seriously long time to eradicate, only a few antibiotics work on it,and it is contagous, usually if youre well it has no effect, but if you have an open wound or weeping eyes as above its a problem.

If your dad is diagnosed with it he should be barrier nursed, eg clean gloves and aprons , hand wash and wash hands after.

Most healthcare places do a routine swab of the nose, so you need to ask if he is positive, eg a carrier,or infected.

Oh and please dont stop hugging him or holding his hand, some people get really scared, 2 of my dads freinds never visited him once when he had it bad.

Its probably a wound swab.

Thinking about it, that makes sense – his ankle has been getting worse lately, so it might’ve come from tests on that.

Sorry, I’ve only got half a tale from what my mum relayed to me earlier.

http://www.mrsaactionuk.net/

Sounds likely – in which case its not harmless but not that serious. topical treatments can get rid of it – silver dressings for example and honey have both been effective – there will be others as well.

If you want to put your two bobs worth in ask the home if they have consulted local NHS tissue viability nurse ( wound dressing specialist) or Infection control nurse

However if the home have got him to increase weight despite dementia when he lost weight in hospital thats a fair clue they know what they are doing. People with dementia often loose weight and it can be very difficult to get them to maintain weight

Groovy. Cheers all.

Sorry for the miserable thread, normal stupidity will be resumed as soon as possible.