About Staph Infections Staph infections are caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Many healthy people carry these bacteria on their skin and in their noses without getting sick. But when skin is punctured or broken, staph bacteria can enter the wound and cause infections, which can lead to other health problems. You can help prevent staph infections in your family by encouraging regular and daily bathing, and by keeping injured skin clean and covered. How Staph Infections Spread Staph bacteria can spread through contaminated surfaces and from person to person. Kids can carry staph bacteria from one area of their body to another — or pass it to other people — via dirty hands or fingernails. So good hand washing is vital to preventing staph infections.
Helpful, trusted answers from doctors: Dr. Dempsey on pus filled bump on buttocks: Also known as a furuncle. Hot compresses several times a day will help bring it to a head, when it will either open and drain on its own or, more likely, be ready for your doctor to drain it with a small incision. Infections around the hair follicles on the skin are mainly caused by clogged pores and accumulation of sweat. Folliculitis spots on the butt cheeks and around the anal area are often described as shallow little pus-filled pimples on the buttocks or skin. Sweating can also cause pimples and acne on buttocks.
It's also important to encourage kids to keep their skin clean with a daily bath or shower. If your child has a skin condition such as that makes regular bathing difficult, ask your doctor for advice. Make sure to keep areas of injured skin — such as cuts, scrapes, and rashes caused by or poison ivy — clean and covered, and follow any directions given by your doctor. Complications of Staph Infections Staph bacteria can cause, staph food poisoning, and these infections: Folliculitis and Boils Folliculitis is an infection of hair follicles, tiny pockets under the skin where hair shafts (strands) grow.
In folliculitis, tiny white-headed pimples appear at the base of hair shafts, sometimes with a small red area around each pimple. This infection often happens in areas where there's been friction or irritation, such as with shaving. Folliculitis often clears up on its own with good skin care. But sometimes it goes on to become a boil (also called a furuncle). With a boil, the staph infection spreads deeper and wider, often affecting the subcutaneous tissue (deeper tissue under the skin) and oil-producing glands (called sebaceous glands). In the first stage, which parents and kids often miss, the area of skin either begins to itch or becomes mildly painful. Next, the skin turns red and begins to swell over the infected area.
Finally, the skin above the infection becomes very tender and a whitish 'head' may appear. The head may break, and the boil may begin to drain pus, blood, or an amber-colored liquid. Boils can occur anywhere on the skin, especially under the arms or on the groin or buttocks in kids. To help relieve pain from a boil, try warm-water soaks, a heating pad, or a hot-water bottle applied to the skin for about 20 minutes, three or four times a day.
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Make sure that the washcloths used for the soaks are washed after each use. Boils are occasionally treated with oral antibiotics and in some cases need to be surgically drained. Impetigo can affect skin anywhere on the body but commonly occurs around the nose and mouth. It usually affects preschoolers and school-age kids, especially in the summer months. In impetigo, staph bacteria cause the skin to have large blisters. The fluid in the blisters starts out clear, then turns cloudy. The blisters may burst, ooze fluid, and develop a honey-colored crust.
Impetigo may itch and can be spread by scratching. Doctors usually prescribe a skin ointment to treat impetigo. Depending on how severe the symptoms are, oral (taken by mouth) antibiotics also might be prescribed. MRSA You may have heard about methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of staph bacteria with a resistance to the antibiotics that are used treat staph infections.
Although can be harder to treat, in most cases they heal with proper care. Most MRSA infections involve the skin, but sometimes MRSA can cause more serious problems, such as bone infections or pneumonia. MRSA pneumonia is rare, but is more of a risk for kids already sick with the flu. Scalded Skin Syndrome Scalded skin syndrome (SSS) most often affects newborns and kids under age 5. The illness usually starts with a small staph skin infection, but the staph bacteria make a toxin that affects skin all over the body. The child has a fever, rash, and sometimes blisters.
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As blisters burst and the rash passes, the top layer of skin sheds and the skin surface becomes red and raw, like a burn. SSS is a serious illness that affects the body in the same way as serious burns. It needs to be treated in a hospital. After treatment, most kids make a full recovery.
Treating Staph Infections You can treat most small staph skin infections by:. washing the skin with an antibacterial cleanser. using warm soaks (to keep the infection from spreading, use a towel only once when you soak or clean an area of infected skin, and then wash it). applying antibiotic ointment, if prescribed by your doctor. covering the skin with a clean dressing or bandage Your doctor may prescribe an oral antibiotic for your child's staph skin infection.
If so, give the antibiotic on schedule for as many days as the doctor directs. More serious staph infections might need to be treated in a hospital, and an (or pocket of pus) that doesn't respond to home care might need to be drained. Call the doctor whenever your child has an area of red, irritated, or painful skin, especially if you see whitish pus-filled areas or your child has a fever or feels sick. Also, call your doctor if skin infections seem to be passing from one family member to another or if two or more family members have skin infections at the same time.
Did you know that at any given time, about 25 percent of the population is carrying around staph bacteria on their skin? Staphylococcus, is a type of bacteria responsible for boils, cellulitis, and also styes on the eye, and it is fairly common. Even though its so common, most people dont know how to tell when theyre getting an infection until it really starts to bother them, and for children this is especially important. Read on to find out why.
Staph can be transmitted by way of contaminated objects, and also by skin-to-skin contact. Individuals who suffer from burns or are more likely to contract a Staph infection. Can easily spread from one individual to another especially in close living conditions like families, and college dorms. This can happen when items are shared such as towels, bed linens, or clothing. Warm, and humid environments can also contribute to the spread of Staph. Staph skin infections are the most common, but Staph infections can affect other parts of the body too.
Signs you may have a Staph infection- symptoms: 1. Redness of skin in the growth of a pimple or blister. It will sometimes be swollen and painful. Lymph nodes in the armpits, neck, or groin becoming swollen and/or tender 3. A patch of skin which has been scraped or cut turning sore, swollen, feeling hot, or producing pus.
Boils or other skin lumps 5. Peeling, blistering, or scaling of skin (most frequently in infants and young children) Types of Staph Infections If you have Folliculitis, you will notice tiny white-headed pimples appear at the base of hair shafts with perhaps a small red area around a pimple.
This can happen as a result of shaving or when skin is rubbed and irritated by clothing. A boil, or otherwise called a furuncle, is a swollen, red, and painful lump on the skin. This lump is usually filled with pus and grows larger and more painful until it ruptures and drains. These are usually found on the face, neck, buttocks, armpits and sometimes on the inner thigh area. If you have a cluster of furucles it is called a carbuncle. If you have a carbuncle you are usually ill and have a fever.
MRSA Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus, or, is a type of staph superbug that does not respond to antibiotics and is highly contagious. The seriousness of the infection and the fact that it is resistant to most antibiotics is what scares people. The fact that people die from MRSA skin infections alarms a lot of people including parents, school officials and community members. Part of why people are afraid of MRSA is that you can become infected by having physical contact with someone who is already infected with MRSA. Another way to become infected with the MRSA skin infection is to come into contact with an object that was touched by someone with MRSA. Objects can be door handles, sinks, towels, bed linens, newspapers and books. Impetigo Young kids get, an infection of the superficial skin and usually occurs on the face, hands or feet.
Impetigo usually starts out as a pimple or bump that then becomes a blister and then develops a light brown crust. Impetigo is highly contagious. Staph infections on the eyelid are called hordeolum or stye. It is a red, warm, uncomfortable feeling and sometimes-painful swelling near the edge of your eyelid. Washing the skin with an antibacterial cleanser and then applying an antibiotic ointment and covering the skin area with a clean dressing can treat most of these Staph infections at home. If the skin infection should worsen, by becoming larger or getting very red and hot to the touch, you should see a doctor immediately.
If the area is large and pus-filled it may need to be drained by a doctor. How to Prevent Staph Infections: Good hygiene is the best prevention. Wash your hands often, use a hand sanitizer and bath or shower daily. Keep skin areas that have been injured, clean. Always wash cuts, scrapes, eczema or other rash areas and cover them to keep dirt and germs out.
If someone in your dorm or family has a Staph infection, do not share towels, bed linens or clothing with them. Do not touch a Staph infection as this can help to spread it to other parts of your body. Staph infections can take up to 20 days to heal without treatment.
Receiving medical treatment will speed up the healing process. You can soak the skin in warm water or apply warm washcloths to the area to help relieve pain. Acetaminophen can be taken 3 or four times a day to relieve pain.
You can also take ibuprofen to reduce pain also. Use a warm compress over the stye on the eye 3 or 4 times each day. It should disappear after a few days, if not see a doctor, for a topical ointment. Photo: Fiona Pragoff /, Wellcome Images.