Can chins get MRSA??

[Aimee & The Chinette's]

My favorite daytime show, "The Doctor's" has been replaced with "Dr.Oz" BUT lucky for me, I am a complete night owl and after cage cleanings & playtimes I can watch "The Doctor's" a 3 AM here in New Orleans. :dance3:

So they just had a segment on Staph infections & the resistant strain of MRSA. From what I understand if a human has MRSA it can be transmitted to a chin??? I searched it on forums & have only come up with a few results.

I maybe misunderstanding MRSA, but from what I got from the information is that once you get MRSA you have it forever??

MRSA can show up on humans as a painful boil & is often misdiagnosed as a spider bite. (The story on this show I just watched, a 15 year old boy died from MRSA in the lungs AKA MRSA pneumonia) It seems to be mostly spread to people in the hospital for "run of the mill" procedures by people that do not know they have it.

I honestly have not researched this much & was just wondering if any of yall have any info or experience with MRSA.

My only experience with staph was Christmas of 2008, my Molly, who is a "scooter" (floor butt rubber) had a discharge from her vagina & when tested it came back as staph, she was treated with cipro & has been perfectly fine ever since...

Any experience or info??

 

[Spoof]

Not about chins, but here's a recent thread on it.

I maybe misunderstanding MRSA, but from what I got from the information is that once you get MRSA you have it forever??

Depends on what articles you read, some have proven they've gotten rid of it, other schools swear you're a carrier for life. There's a few good ones (with pictures) linked on that thread.

 

[ticklechin]

A member on CNQ got it from some new rescues, I don't remember the name. Also:



http://tahilla.typepad.com/mrsawatch/2008/09/mrsa-and-animal.html

 

[GorillaJTA]

I had a MRSA infection once. It sucked. It smelled foul and was 10x worse than any other wound I have ever had (grew up on a farm so I have had a few). Treatment was basically getting as much of the infection out as possible and then treatment with less common antibiotics (Vancomycin). My doctor has never mentioned me being contagious to anyone else, much less to my animals. A lot of animals may carry MRSA and never be symptomatic.

 

[Nervousings]

this doesnt have anything to do with chins.. but i do have quite a bit of experience with staph infections on MRSA.

working in a tattoo shop for 4 years taught me alot about staph infections, and i even managed to get an infection 2 times in that period. it is mainly due to negligence on the tattoo artist's part. if something isnt cleaned correctly, and touches the open wound (tattoo in progress), you are viable to get many different diseases, such as hepatitis, staph, and staph that is resistant... MRSA. luckily i only had staph, and with a long bout of meds it cleared up.

after the infection i really wanted to educate myself, and took a few cross contamination and blood born pathogens classes that i excelled in, and really enjoyed. i then went on to get my LVN license. this is where i REALLY witnesses MRSA. while working in a nursing home during our class i was told to "double glove, gown and protect yourself. this is no joke"..... i was scared to say the least. there was a man, who contracted MRSA and will be in quarantine for the rest of his life, as he has shown no signs of the infection colonizing. 2 weeks after this, my teacher contracted MRSA and has since passed away. it was because she let a pen touch his bedside and then touched it with her bare hands. this infection is no joke, and extremely traumatic.

i seriously hope that it is not something that can pass on to animals. how would we be able to tell? this is scary.

 

[QnMidnight]

I didn't recognize the name, but I'm almost 100% sure my mother had that almost 4 years ago. She had this huge nasty infestion-thing on her back that took months to clear up, and required nurses to come in and clean it out all the time. It was pretty gross! Hers eventually seemed to completely clear up, as I haven't heard anything about it in the years since then. I have no idea if she could still be carrying anything from that one incident, but I know we weren't warned that she could be contagious past dealing with the initial infection.

 

[InkedupTara]

Where I work, which is a hospital, once you have MRSA, you have to be on "contact precautions" when you are admitted from then on. I think once you are exposed it can lay dormant in you, so they take extra steps to keep you and the staff person safe.

I would imagine they can get it from us, just like they get a lot of things.

 

[Nervousings]

I didn't recognize the name, but I'm almost 100% sure my mother had that almost 4 years ago. She had this huge nasty infestion-thing on her back that took months to clear up, and required nurses to come in and clean it out all the time. It was pretty gross! Hers eventually seemed to completely clear up, as I haven't heard anything about it in the years since then. I have no idea if she could still be carrying anything from that one incident, but I know we weren't warned that she could be contagious past dealing with the initial infection.

it is VERY contagious when the infection is present. there is probably a 99% chance that she still carries the infection, but it is colonized in her system. it can come back up if her immune system weakens or she is under an un-godly amount of stress.

 

[AZChins]

A manicurist was telling me about a nail salon in California where lots of people contracted MRSA infections because the foot baths for pedicures were not cleaned well enough. It sounds like it's pretty easy to get and very hard to get rid of.

It's a bacteria, like staph or strep and it would be something that could most definitely affect a chinchilla. Viruses are different, they can affect different species differently. Bacteria gets into the tissue, reproduces and puts off toxins. So it can infect humans and animals about the same with what it does to tissue. Some are worse than others...

Make everyone use hand sanitizer before they touch the chins! Wash your hands frequently to keep bacterial concentrations on the skin down...never touch your face with hands that haven't just been washed...you know the drill...