Gym Infection A Growing Problem

Link: WRAL.com

     A gym is a place for fitness, not infection. But RaeLynn Carr said that is what she got after a workout using a large rubber exercise ball on her legs. Two days after using the ball, she noticed she had a welt on her leg. She used an antibiotic cream, but said the condition worsened. "They thought, at first, that it was a brown recluse spider," Carr said. That is a common misdiagnosis of methycillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which is unresponsive to many antibiotics. MRSA is transmitted through direct contact with an infected person. The bacteria can live on a surface, such as shared gym equipment or towels, and can infect the body through an open wound as small as a razor nick. That is how Carr thinks she got it. After almost four weeks of failed treatments, the infection was deep and spreading. Carr ended up in the emergency department at WakeMed in Cary. "(The doctor) told me that it would not heal without cutting out that section of my leg," she said. MRSA is most common in health care settings among people with weakened immunity. Since it is not one of the state's 57 reportable diseases, no one really knows how often otherwise healthy people get it. But many health care professionals believe it is a growing problem. "Just talking to my colleagues across the state, it seems to be something that people are noticing an increase in cases," said registered nurse Robin Carver, an infection control practitioner at WakeMed. Carr is still on a strong antibiotic called Bactrum, and it could take up to a year for the leg to heal.

Comments

[Carol]

I contacted a MRSA going on 3 weeks ago, and it too started out looking like a bug bite. I think I got it from a puppy licking my leg profusely after I had just shaved. I have been on the Bactrim for 3 wks and started on Rifampin last Monday. So now 7 days on the double anti-B's and it is getting a lot better, but still has left me with about a 2-3" diameter area on my shin that is red, hard, and hot to touch. It actually caused a burn to my skin, due to the intense fever within the tissues. Pretty scarry stuff, but if it is not 100% gone in 2 days, going to the emergency room for the IV treatment I guess. I do not want to lose part of my leg, as they are very nice !!!!

[Evelyn Vincent]

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