"We had already been through this three other times, so we weren't too worried," explains Chelsea, who says she had taken her daughter to a pediatrician on several occasions to treat skin infections. As they usually did when a little red circle with a white head appeared on their toddler's body, they popped it like a pimple and cleaned the area with antibacterial soap. But this time, that small pimple would turn into a major problem.
"By the next morning, it wasn't just a bump anymore. Her leg was red and extremely swollen, and she could hardly walk. She was in pain, and her fever had spiked to 103," her mother recalls. "It went from minor to really, really bad overnight."
By 10:30 that morning, they had rushed Audriana to their pediatrician in Oroville, California. She was hospitalized, and the Willmans learned their daughter had developed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which is a type of staph bacteria that does not respond to commonly used antibiotic treatments.
This type of infection has been a problem in hospital settings for many years, but starting around 2000, it began steadily making its way into the lives of otherwise healthy people, especially children, who are not typically at risk for the fast-moving bacteria. As children head back to school, epidemiologists are encouraging parents to be more aware of the drug-resistant strain of staph and how to protect their kids.
awhh.. i hope loittle kids dont get thia! what you guys think?
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