Reply #15: We had 5 cases [View All]

[AnneD]

in our school (one was a parent)2 years ago. I learned more than I want to. The staph can invade though micro abrasions in the skin. The fist and most memorable case was a little girl whose shoes were too tight. On initial assessment, it didn't look too bad, but I cautioned Mom to watch her. Two days later she was spiking a temp. After 2 days of of dealing with the temp, Mom took her to the Doc and they admitted her into the hospital. The infection had worked into the bone and she had to have surgery to remove infection and was on IV abx for 6 weeks. I did an epidemiological study with our city Epidemiology Department to see if we could find a source/discover what it was. I won't forget what it looks like anytime soon. It doesn't look bad per se, but it moves quickly and the high temps are the tip off. The kids had to take some heavy duty abxs.

Forgot to add: skin infections were the #1 problem for Katrina evacuees. That could have caused an even greater uptick in the numbers.