Any nurses or dr's on- question about dh's staph infection

[Tiggeroo]

Some of you guys were great when dh was hospitalized with an infected knee. They said it was MRSA but then there was a change in the meds so I believe it is just Staph Aureus. He is home on Cefazolin iv home therapy. He has been taking this for at least 6 days. While in the hospital, before taking this med he began to develop a rash on his back. We assumed it was from sweating so much and laying in bed so much. Today when nurse was here she noticed a rash around injection site. Considers it possible that it's from the heat and all the tape/gauze/bandages. DH feels great and knee is much better. Tonight after work the rash had spread. But it seems like a heat rash, it is concentrated in areas where you would get a heat rash. DH is prone to heat rashes. Called nurse who called dr. trying to decide whether to switch meds in case it is an allergic reaction. He has no upper respiratory symptoms or anything else.
The rash is getting better but I'm worried. Why not just switch the med. Why take a chance on this getting worst. I asked the nurse and she said there were alternative drugs. If you are a nurse do you know of an alternative med for a patient who might be sensitive to penicillen/cephalsporins? I'm considering calling and insisting since it takes half a day to get the meds here. If I called now it would get delivered tomorrow. But I'd be calling this nurse for like the 4th time tonight at home at 10pm.

 

[DawnCt1]

Just my opinion, but if the rash is improving and the infection is improving, I would leave well enough alone. There are other things that can cause a rash besides allergies. Sometimes the toxins from the bacteria. The infection is responsive to the antibiotic that he is on now. It may not be responsive to an "alternative drug". If you are worried, call the nurse back and have her call the doctor. Has your husband had an infectious disease consultation? If not, even though he is improving, it might be reassuring to discuss this problem with him.

 

[marymrg]

I got a rash from the tape at my IV site when I was on home IV therapy.

 

[Tiggeroo]

It is an infectious disease specialist treating him. The hospital head. But he's out of town and it seems impossible to reach him. If he would just speak to me on the phone and reassure me I might feel differently. Even though the rash has retreated it's still quite bad. And tonight his fever was back for the first time in 2 days when the rash was at it's worst. I was wondering if it was secondary to the infection. That's why I wanted the dr. to take a look at it.

 

[year2late]

MRSA stands for Methacillin Resistent Staph Aureus. It is not the usual brand of staph aureus. Simply, it is a "super strain " of staph that is more difficult to treat. Resistent means resistent to an antibiotic.

You get it in a few ways. One is person to person spread. The old fashioned way.

The other is to have a staph infection and to take inadequate amounts of antibiotics to kill the bacteria. Essentially if all the staph is not killed by the antibiotic you are left with the REALLY nasty ones. Stronger bacteria breed stronger bacteria.

So, if the MD has determined that that particular antibotic is ok and there is not a real allergic reaction - keep on the drug until the MD says to stop. Stopping antibiotics early only makes the resistance to antibiotics worse. He could decide to put your husband on a nasty antibiotic called Vancomycin - very useful and potent - but it has numerous possible toxicities that you will want to avoid unless absolutly necessary.

Hope this helps.

 

[lsyorke]

Sound like an antibiotic reaction to me! They can start slow and then get slowly worse. The fever is what makes me think antibiotic reaction, as long as the knee looks good. We see alot of antibiotic fevers in my hospital. Sometimes they just stop all the antibiotics and see what happens. There are alot of antibiotics that can be used if your penicillin sensitive. I'd call the doctor and have it changed, why take that chance??