MRSA alert - Be on guard

Just a little word of advice for all drivers who use truck stop showers... There is an ever increasing problem with a little thing called MRSA. This stands for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. This is a drug resistant staff infection. Although it use to be a problem, for the most part, spread from within a medical facility, there is a new variant called CA-MRSA. This new strain of staff is now out in public. CA stands for community acquired - MRSA. The primary difference between the two is CA-MRSA is not as resistant to as many antibiotics as the original, yet. In fact MRSA has only one antibiotic that works, it has to be given via IV and you stay in the hospital, in isolation, for a while, then do outpatient IV's until your system is clear. But then you are considered colonized and must be careful about getting cut or scratched again. With CA-MRSA, normally healthy people who haven't recently visited any medical facilities have been contracting it. Sports teams, people who exercise at the gym, and there are more and more drivers getting it because the cleaning practices and cleaning products used by some truck stops don't kill the bacteria. Then all it takes is a scratch or any minor break in the skin to get infected. The reason I know this, I have been diagnosed with CA-MRSA. And it's been 2 weeks since I have had to stop work, so that I can go through the treatment and decontaminate my system.

If you have what appears to be an ant or spider bite, keep an eye on it. It may be MRSA. That's how mine started. On my knee it looked like a simple fire-ant bite. I didn't think anything about it until my whole leg started swelling, by the time I got to the doctor(several days later), I almost couldn't put on my shoe my foot was so big. Turns out it wasn't an ant bite (living in FL you get them from time to time, so I know I am not allergic to them) after lab test they determined it was MRSA. The original doctor said if I had waited a couple more days, I would have had the infection spread to my blood and would have been a guest of the hospital for a while, or maybe worse.

They say the easiest way to avoid catching this is simple.(but it didn't work for me) They say to wash your hands, often, with hot water and for at least a minute. The problem is, I am almost OCD when it comes to hand washing. I see too many drivers park their butts in a stall in the restroom then finish their business and walk out...not washing at all. I wash my hands so often I have permanent dish pan hands, and when I shower I use hot enough water you could steam a lobster, so I am not sure where this came from or how I caught it. There were no breaks in the skin on my leg prior to this, so I have no idea how I got infected. But I am doing the responsible thing and staying out of the game until I am cleared by my doctor. I was told by my doctor the only way I could spread this is to have someone come in contact with some of the junk that was coming out of my wound or have some on my hands after changing bandages, and then have a cut or scratch. Thankfully I kept my wound covered, used rubber gloves when changing bandages and kept myself isolated as much as possible until I got home. And I do the same practice at home and no one here has been infected. So I am confident that I didn't spread this.

But if you do have a sudden 'bite' looking wound, seek medical attention. Don't tough it out like I tried to do. Sometime all that needs to be done is the wound needs drained, and a local antiseptic. But if you wait, the infection gets worse and takes more treatment and more antibiotics, and time off so you don't spread it.