"Staph" bacteria feed on blood. They need the iron that's hidden away inside red blood cells to grow and cause infections. It turns out that these microbial vampires prefer the taste of human blood, Vanderbilt University scientists have discovered. The researchers report in the Dec.
Researchers treated mice and human blood cells in lab dishes with a hefty dose of vitamin B3 and found that the ability of immune system cells to fight a staph infection was increased a thousandfold. In particular, the vitamin helped treat staph infections that are resistant to antibiotics, they said.
The foods that have been most frequently implicated in cases of staphylococcal food poisoning are poultry and cooked meat products such as ham or corned beef. Other foods implicated were milk and milk products, canned food and bakery products.
Staph bacteria can spread easily through cuts, scrapes and skin-to-skin contact. Staph infections may also spread in the locker room through shared razors, towels, uniforms or equipment.
The cause of a staph infection is staph bacteria entering the body. They can enter through an open wound or when a person ingests food that has become contaminated with the bacteria.
Antibiotics commonly prescribed to treat staph infections include cefazolin, nafcillin, oxacillin, vancomycin, daptomycin and linezolid. For serious staph infections, vancomycin may be required. This is because so many strains of staph bacteria have become resistant to other traditional antibiotics.
What may appear to be recurrent staph infections may in fact be due to failure to eradicate the original staph infection. Recurrent staph infections can also be due to seeding of staph from the bloodstream, a condition known as staph sepsis or staph bacteremia. And then there is what is called Job syndrome.
People are at higher risk for staph infection when they have surgery or stay in healthcare facilities, have medical devices in their body, inject drugs, or when they come in close contact with someone who has staph.
The researchers report today in Science Advances that Staphylococcus aureus—a bacteria that often is resistant to antibiotics—thrives in glucose-rich diabetic conditions, which trigger it to activate some of its most virulent features. A lack of insulin prevents the immune system from responding to the infection.
Vitamin D induces the expression of antimicrobial peptides with activity against Staphylococcus aureus.
Notably, Lactobacillus acidophilus and Lactobacillus casei, commensal bacteria strains in probiotics, have shown antibacterial activity against MRSA. Other strains that have been shown to be most effective against MRSA infections4 include: Lactobacillus reuteri. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG.
Septicemia: Staph bacteria in your bloodstream can cause blood poisoning, also called sepsis. Symptoms include fever and dangerously low blood pressure (hypotension). Toxic shock syndrome: A severe form of septicemia, toxic shock syndrome (TSS) symptoms include fever, muscle aches and a rash that looks like sunburn.
Prognosis for people with Staphylococcus infections
Most Staphylococcus infections are mild and easily treated with antibiotics. Even severe and antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus infections can often be cured with treatment. However, if left untreated, Staphylococcus can be fatal.
Symptoms of a Staph infection include redness, warmth, swelling, tenderness of the skin, and boils or blisters. How do Staph skin infections spread? Staph/MRSA lives on the skin and survives on objects for 24 hours or more.
Golden staph can be spread by skin-on-skin contact or by touching contaminated surfaces. Poor personal hygiene and not covering open wounds can lead to infection with golden staph. Thorough hand washing and good housekeeping, such as damp dusting, are important as golden staph is part of our environment.
When common antibiotics don't kill the staph bacteria, it means the bacteria have become resistant to those antibiotics. This type of staph is called MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
As a result, the body does not develop long-term immunity and remains vulnerable to that particular staph infection throughout life. While certain staph bacteria cause mild skin infections, other strains of staph bacteria can wreak havoc in the bloodstream and bones, sometimes leading to amputations.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can survive on some surfaces, like towels, razors, furniture, and athletic equipment for hours, days, or even weeks.
In healthy people, the body's natural immune defenses typically keep CA-MRSA infections in the skin, and appropriate antibiotics can effectively treat them. However, patients who are immunocompromised have difficulty fighting the bacteria, which can become invasive and cause life-threating infections.
HIBICLENS is an OTC antimicrobial skin cleanser that contains 4% chlorhexidine gluconate, which kills bacteria (including staph) on contact and provides long-lasting antimicrobial activity.
Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. The bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they usually cause only minor skin problems in healthy people.
A typical dose is 1-3 g of powdered root three times per day or 3-5 mL of tincture three times a day. Pineywoods geranium (Geranium caespitosum), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), and bugle weed (Lycopus europaeus) all have inhibited antibiotic efflux pumps, thus reducing antibiotic resistance, in MRSA.