Friday, August 6, 2010

Violet's Staph Attack: What a Staph Infection Looks Like

A few weeks ago my daughter had a slight case of diaper rash that had mostly cleared up. One little spot didn't though. I thought it was just the rash, but I was wrong. It started out like a small pimple and then the next day it had a white head type thing on it that looked so gross to me. I thought maybe it was a staph infection(I had seen a few working as a CNA at a hospital) and so I checked with my BFF Stephanie, whose daughter had a similar sore that turned out to be Staph. She said it definitely looked like it and then I called my doctor. In a matter of 2 days it went from barely there to horribly gross:

This was the day after I noticed the small dot.



And this was the morning of her doctor's appointment, the day after the above picture:

It got yucky so fast! I couldn't believe it. That whitehead thing had popped and in its place was a crater of yellow crust(sorry I know it sounds gross!).

Our pediatrician confirmed she thought it was a Staph infection, and took a swab to rule out MRSA(I highly antibiotic resistant type of Staph). She prescribed Keflex for Violet and told us we would know after the weekend was over if the antibiotics were working or not. If they didn't work, it was probably MRSA. A day later it looked worlds better, so we felt safe saying it was not MRSA and the lab tests confirmed this as well. Little Violet took the "pink bubble gum medicine" 3 times a day for 10 days and she loved it. I remember being a kid and loving taking that medicine too.

Her Staph is gone and her diapers have been disinfected with a small amount of bleach. We also sprayed our bathtub down with bleach and disinfected all of her toys and washed all of the bedding just in case. Germ X wipes are a Godsend when you have an 18 month old who cant use hand sanitizer!

So what is Staph? I'm taking this from www.medicinenet.com:

"Staphylococcus is a group of bacteria that can cause a multitude of diseases as a result of infection of various tissues of the body. Staphylococcus is more familiarly known as Staph (pronounced "staff"). Staph-related illness can range from mild and requiring no treatment to severe and potentially fatal.

The name Staphylococcus comes from the Greek staphyle, meaning a bunch of grapes, and kokkos, meaning berry, and that is what Staph look like under the microscope, like a bunch of grapes or little round berries. (In technical terms, these are gram-positive, facultative anaerobic, usually unencapsulated cocci.)

Over 30 different types of Staphylococci can infect humans, but most infections are caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococci can be found normally in the nose and on the skin (and less commonly in other locations) of 25%-30% of healthy adults. In the majority of cases, the bacteria do not cause disease. However, damage to the skin or other injury may allow the bacteria to overcome the natural protective mechanisms of the body, leading to infection."


Staph is everywhere. It doesn't make us dirty people or our cloth diapers dirty because she got it. It is the most common skin infection! We figure it's hot and humid here in AZ during the monsoon season, and we have commonly taken her out in a cloth diaper and t-shirt. She could have gotten it on a shopping cart for all we know.

Violet is perfectly healthy now. I swear though, that girl is giving us a run for our money. I would have thought my almost 4 year old would have been the one to constantly get hurt. Violet's 18 month track record:

A clogged tear duct that a doctor thought was pink eye

A stubborn sick baby who wouldn't nurse and ended up getting an IV because she was dehydrated

She scratched her cornea

She thought it would be fun to take a vegetable can out of the garbage and sliced her finger on it. Poor baby needed 3 stitches:

And now this lol. My son has been sick once in his whole life. Yeah. My girl is trouble. :) Precious and ornery and I wouldn't change a thing.

Violet, do Mommy a favor and no more accidents or illnesses for awhile, ok?

Danielle

4 comments :

  1. Poor Violet! I hope she is feeling much better soon and that it doesn't spread!

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  2. You poor momma!
    I think Violet is pretty tough, though! I don't think Blayze's baby book would have held all the accident's he has had so far!
    I think you are going to have one rough and tumble tom boy on your hands one day momma!
    I love you! I will pray for you!

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  3. Staph is a tricky one. A few months ago, my son was sick and coughing... nothing too bad, but constant and his eyes then became bloodshot and he was miserable. Turns out he was sick...(duh!) but unrelated was a mild staph infection in his eyes. That took drops 3x a day that he hated! Both illness and staph cleared and all is well. I am so glad we had it checked out. I would have never though the red eyes were staph though.

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  4. That is so crazy mama! I cant believe it was in his eyes. Glad he is all better now! Stinky staph!

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