Cleaning cuts and Flesh-Eating Disease

[emkay]

Loved the link thank you. I am not into macabre stuff but as an EMT I love seeing wounds and thinking about the best way to treat them. Altho, anyone can fix a wound it's the medical stuff that get's me really thinking. MRSA is nasty stuff I ALWAYS use Body Substance Isolation (gloves, etc), and even more so with a MRSA patient. Worse is when I have made contact, am placing the PT on the stretcher and there was nothing in past medical for MRSA, then the nurse walks up and says, " Oh yeah he has MRSA".....

If you swab either of our noses, I'm sure you'd find MRSA. The CDC no longer recommends isolation or contact precautions unless there's an active infection present.

 

[MetalgodZ]

It has taken use near 100 years to kill off enough non-resistant bacteria that we've started seeing wide spread applications of purely resistant strains, and enviornmental factors that kill off non-mutant strains work much more rapidly than free form evolution, so anti-biotic resistant bacteria strains will likely be around well beyond anyone currently alives life-span.

I figured.

That really would be the least of my concerns

I'm more considering a post-SHTF timeline. Not important for me, possibly important for my kids, or theirs.

Alcohol is an effective antiseptic but should only be used on intact skin. The same goes for chlorhexidine (Hibiclens). Peroxide kills skin cells slows healing and should be avoided on open skin. And for the love of God, please don't ever put bleach on yourself.
Recent studies suggest that high pressure irrigation is the most important factor in prevent wound contamination initially, regardless of what is used. Good, clean water is just as effective as sterile normal saline (shot placement vs. caliber).

Dakin's solution?

 

[emkay]

Buffered 10% bleach.

http://www.virginia.edu/uvaprint/HSC/pdf/09024.pdf

 

[Another_David]

Loved the link thank you. I am not into macabre stuff but as an EMT I love seeing wounds and thinking about the best way to treat them...

glad you like it. Some of the photos are gruesome but it's truly amazing how some nasty looking wounds can cleaned and stitched together with basic materials then the body heals itself remarkably well

Buffered 10% bleach.

http://www.virginia.edu/uvaprint/HSC/pdf/09024.pdf

yup, that's in the OP Wound Care Manual PDF

 

[Twigg]

Buffered 10% bleach.

http://www.virginia.edu/uvaprint/HSC/pdf/09024.pdf

What does the baking soda do ?

I didn't pay attention in chemistry class...

 

[Another_David]

What does the baking soda do ?

I didn't pay attention in chemistry class...

the baking soda (sodium bicarbinate) acts as a buffer--adjusts the acidity to more closely match the ph of your body

 

[appraiser]

They are either being very overly cautious, or they have some very nasty stuff living in the hospitals.

When my son died, it was a race between the staph infection that he caught that was running wild through the Neo Natal ICU and his heart giving out.

In the end the Staph infection killed him and it was not pretty

 

[Mass-diver]

Step one would be to avoid the hospital if at all possible. That's where most of this shit lives.

Except for this flesh eating bug that the OP has referenced, which is apparently all over the place in the nature, and if you happen to get in deep tissue you are pretty much screwed.

 

[vellnueve]

Except for this flesh eating bug that the OP has referenced, which is apparently all over the place in the nature, and if you happen to get in deep tissue you are pretty much screwed.

Staph aureus is everywhere... I guarantee you you have it on your skin and in your nose. The ultra virulent, methicillin-resistant form is the worrying bit. It's becoming more and more common.

 

[T3andme]

Another vote for Hibiclens. Hydrogen peroxide as others have stated is passé. For a PSA, MRSA is out and about in the community. Been seeing it for a while.

 

[mcb]

2 years ago I got an infection in my right small toe. I woke up one Sunday and it looked like a small tomato and streaking up my leg. ER drained and was put on a cocktail of Cipro, Sulfamethoxazole, Vancomycin IV and Clindamycin IV. Day 8 I had a severe drug rash develop and had to be taken off all of them, but 99% certain it was Sulfa. Since then I've had 2 infections that were drained and treated with Cipro, my PCP wasn't happy with the cocktail I was given first go around.

I think I may be harboring a healthy MRSA colony. In a scenario where antibiotics may not be available I fear I may be one of the first to go. Who wants me on their SHTF team?!

 

[Mass-diver]

Staph aureus is everywhere... I guarantee you you have it on your skin and in your nose. The ultra virulent, methicillin-resistant form is the worrying bit. It's becoming more and more common.

I've been in healthcare for a number of years - so I'm sure I have MRSA in my nose. Some hospitals (such as NEBH) screen all patient with nasal swabs preop and then treat them with nasal cream. Pretty good idea in my opinion, but I may be biased as I give anesthesia there on occasion.

However, what's interesting (and what I was referencing in my post) is that this poor girl from Georgia who has NF doesn't have a staph infection (like most cases), but some odd ball bug that is apparently everywhere but only causes problems if it finds its way into deep tissue.

 

[hankster]

C. Dificile isn't fun but overgrowth can be treated quite effectively with metronidazole. MRSA is a far worse animal.

Ya a piece of F'n cake .

 

[vellnueve]

I've been in healthcare for a number of years - so I'm sure I have MRSA in my nose. Some hospitals (such as NEBH) screen all patient with nasal swabs preop and then treat them with nasal cream. Pretty good idea in my opinion, but I may be biased as I give anesthesia there on occasion.

However, what's interesting (and what I was referencing in my post) is that this poor girl from Georgia who has NF doesn't have a staph infection (like most cases), but some odd ball bug that is apparently everywhere but only causes problems if it finds its way into deep tissue.

Missed that reference. I just read that they took her hands and remaining foot.

Ya a piece of F'n cake .

That IS the treatment for most cases.

 

[hankster]

That IS the treatment for most cases.[/QUOTE]

Thankfully after two courses of Vancocin over several months it went away . Didn't feel that good for probably about a year .

 

[Da_lucche]

Hydrogen peroxide, Iodine or Alcohol isnt gonna do shit for a streptococcus or a staphylococcus infection. You will need an intense and usually longterm regiment of antiboitics to fight off the infection; that is if you get to it before necrosis and TSS sets in.