Nasal Staph Infection
Dr.Kut | Jan 14, 2010 | Comments 0
Staphylococcus is a group of bacteria which cause various kinds of infections and diseases. In case of nasal staph infection, these bacteria form a colony in the nose.
Symptoms:
Most of the people fail to recognize that there is staph in there nasal passage. There are no particular symptoms associated with nasal staph infection. For a long time, you won’t know that your nose is infected by staph since no abscesses, or nasal problems will be observed. Nasal staph infection can be identified only with the help of a physician. A physician will perform a nasal swab and test the culture of staph. A study shows that 30% of the population has nasal staph infection without having the knowledge of it. If you consistently suffer from nasal problems, and have observed abscesses or swelling in the internal nose, you should immediately undergo a staph test.
Warning signs:
Most of the people suffering from constant stuffy nose have staph bacteria residing in their nasal passage. Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria usually responsible for nasal staph infection causes no noticeable symptoms and hence may go unnoticed a lot of times. Though no problems may be visible at first, to the people having infection but nasal staph infection cannot be neglected. People having nasal staph infection face the following risks:
- The healing time of a wound, cut, or surgery increases to a large extent.
- Women may get sore nipples during breast feeding, if they suffer from infection.
- The immune system of the person becomes unable to control the spread of skin diseases in the body like eczema, psoriasis etc.
The staph skin infections are mostly treated with the use of antibiotic pills and injections. These fight with the germs readily and help in eliminating them from the skin but these rarely help in case of nasal staph infection. Hence many times even after treatment, staph aureus returns back and infects your skin or body. The most commonly known adverse effect of Staph aureus in nose is that it delays the healing process.
Treatment:
The first step would be to get an appointment with your physician and tell him the whole history of your problem. Explain to him all your worries and go for a nasal swab if suggested by him. A culture usually takes approximately 2 to 3 days to grow. If detected positive for staph, ask for necessary advices and follow a routine care plan for the treatment of the nasal staph infection. Make sure that your physician lets you know the type of staph and prescribes you the medicines accordingly. For example, MRSA staph infection and VRSA staph infection would require antibiotics different from usual staph. The medicine should be prescribed depending on the resistance of the staph and the antibiotics to which they are non resistant can be put to use.
Nasal staph infection can be treated by applying ointments in your nose prescribed by your doctor. Some popularly known ointments are- bacitacin, mupiricin and other different combinations. Applying them in the bedtime for few weeks can help in curing the nasal staph infection. A resistant staph aureus will need different medicines which can only be prescribed by a physician after the cultures have been analyzed.
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Filed Under: Ear, Nose and Throat • Infection • Skin, Hair and Nails • Staphylococcal Infections
