MRSA: A Survivor's Story

Marie Watkins, a healthy 28-year-old woman, never expected that a trip to her doctor's office would end up with her in the hospital in a fight for her life. She went to the doctor for a boil that she noticed on her inner thigh that did not get better after a few days.

At her doctor's office, the nurse took her temperature. She was running a fever of 100.7. When the doctor came in the exam room, he saw the boil on her thigh and immediately decided that he needed to make an incision in the boil and swab it to test for Staph infection and a more serious form of Staph called Community Acquired Methicillin Resistant Staphlococcus Aeureus, or CA-MRSA.

When the lab work came back, it was positive for CA-MRSA. The doctor promptly admitted Marie into the hospital and ordered a full blood work up on her. He also ordered that she start on the antibiotic Vancocin.

It soon became evident that the antibiotic was not working when Marie's temperature began to climb higher. Soon, she found herself in the Intensive Care Unit. The doctor ordered her to be put on Zyvox, a stronger antibiotic than Vancocin.

Slowly, Marie began to improve on the Zyvox. Her temperature started to slowly drop. The boil on her thigh started to heal. Then came another setback for Marie, she began to have trouble breathing. The doctor ordered a Chest X-Ray and more blood work. Marie had pneumonia. Treatment began for the pneumonia.

Luckily for Marie, the pneumonia was her last complication while in the hospital. She spent a total of 11 days in the hospital. Four of those days were spent in the Intensive Care Unit.

Marie told me that she has "learned that anyone can get CA-MRSA". When asked how she got the infection, she replied "I am a day care worker and it is believed that I got it somehow from work". She further stated that "the most important way to prevent the spread of CA-MRSA is to wash your hands frequently and to keep any open sores covered".

According to http://www.webmd.com/news/20071016/more-us-deaths-from-mrsa-than-aids, MRSA was responsible for 94,000 life threatening infections and 18,650 deaths in 2005; while AIDS was responsible for about 16,000 deaths the same year. Everyone is at risk for CA-MRSA.

Marie was one of the lucky ones. Although CA-MRSA is not always deadly and does not always lead to a stay in the hospital, it is becoming increasingly common. In the past, this strain of Staph was limited mostly to hospitals and nursing homes but, it is being found more commonly in other areas.