First, I doubt strongly its MRSA. It wants to be inside a body. Super chlorinating is the right step.

Understand that public pools typically have higher bathing loads. Following the recommendations for a public pool with a residential pool in this situation is not going to cause a problem for your pool.

Scott

Not sure where you are getting your information, but mrsa is typically and often seen (particularly the community mrsa) as a draining and open wound and is highly communicable via skin to skin contact. This was a closed wound that the child opened to drain, which is a typical reaction. Still not confirmed if it is mrsa, but I highly suspect it is, same family had it earlier in year, wound looked identical. I've worked in hospitals for over 20 years and unfortunately have seen my share of this, it's not new, just new in community settings.

The reason the public pool information wasn't helpful is because it talked more about disinfecting locker rooms than anything, and information was conflicting on whether or not the water itself was a vector and the staph could live IN the water and whether chlorination was enough to kill it. For every article I read, another contradicted, so I'm still not sure when/if pool is safe.

The reason I said I thought it wanted to be in the body was the only time I had heard much about it was from those that had surgical procedures that went bad. Medical conditions of people are not exactly my area of expertise.

While there are biologicals that are resistant to chlorine, Given enough time, I know of none that are immune to it.

Scott

What is happening in hospitals is different than what is happening in the community, athletes are commonly infected due to close contact, and it often shows up as a pimple or boil that they then open, spreading it more. Surgically it still happens as an open wound though, you have to have it transmitted somehow, and wounds are the typical way. Can be pretty serious. According to the folks at TFP chlorine should take care of it, I'm hoping it will at this point not sure what else to do!

Its more likely to be spread via the pool deck than the water.

I guess the good news is you are likely a carrier of staph if you have worked in a hospital for 20 years but you already know that...right? I haven't checked with the CDC in quite some time but the last stats I saw stated that ~25% of the general population were carriers and ~90% of hospital workers had the "nasty" living in their nasopharnyx.

As far as the kid in your pool is concerned, his parents should be spanked. In all likelyhood, the chlorine that was in your pool killed the staph and no cross contamination occured. Super-chlorination will kill everything for certain. My concern is if the kid shared a towel with anyone else that had an open wound.

Just to be safe, super chlorinate the pool and grab a bottle of Cavicide and spray down your outdoor furniture.

Oh sure, if we swabbed most of our noses we'd come out positive! The difference is that it stays in our noses, only becomes opportunistic when immune system is down or a wound presents itself at just the right time. I see many a folk in their homes with it, it is everywhere. It doesn't really freak me out normally, but seeing a kid with a weeping wound in my pool wasn't so great!

Towels have been triple washed, toys bleached, deck sprayed as best as I could do, will do the furniture too, though he really didn't sit in anything. Thanks for the reassurance dawg!

Never underestimate what picking your nose with a hangnail can cause....

I've seen it happen.

Well, it probably didn't happen that way but that's the rumor we started. One of the RTs at the hospital had a tiny little cut on his finger and got a nasty MRSA infection in it. We said it was from picking his nose.

wait a second, i think I saw this thread on an episode of "House" already...

Ok with that said: I can't pass up the opportunity to take advantage of some free medical expertise on this board (my co-pays are insane now): This guy sneezed all over me on a flight today - it was an international flight so coulda been swine flu, bird flu, mad cow, who knows - I was thinking of maybe superchlorinating myself just to be on the safe side - thoughts?

;-)

OK, I do know your post was tongue in cheek, but I actually DO have advice for you! When exposed to icky bugs I (literally) chew raw garlic at least 3 times per day and eat as much vitamin C as I remember to take in a day. Boosting your immune system is what you need, and those simple and low cost things will really do the trick.

I'm pretty sure you are OK in the mad cow department, unless you ate someone on the flight.

chewing raw garlic will at least keep the opposite sex away.....

Hey, cuts down on communicable diseases, right? In my house I just require that everyone chew the garlic, then we're all on the same wavelength of stink!

nanshot, they said the airline meal was chicken, but I have my doubts honestly, so i'll keep watching for the mad cow symptoms just in case...

And now that I'm thinking it, I'm going to try eating the garlic before the next flight and maybe that will keep people far enough away from me that their sneezes, coughs, hacks, nose blowing and general germiness won't reach me in the first place - "preventative care" and all that - thx for the advice!!

sorry to hijack your thread :-)

Nan, my heart goes out to you, I was an OR super many years ago and this MRSA sounds horrible. I have a niece whose father in law suffers from it, has had multiple hospitalizations because of it. I still to this day "decontaminate" things that come in contact with my family LOL. I got visions of draining the pool and pressure washing the area with bleach solution. On a serious side, I would re-think the guest list. Best of luck, Barb