My hope here is to point you to 3 new treatment ideas that may be helpful in your struggles.
First things first, you should at least be following this decolonization protocol (or some form of it) as found in this clinical trial decolonization study :
Drug: 2% Mupirocin Ointment (Bactroban, by prescription only)
Apply ointment to the anterior nares twice daily for 5 days.
Drug: 4% Chlorhexidine liquid soap (Hibenclens, available at your local drug store) Bathe with liquid soap daily for 5 days.
Behavioral: Hygiene protocol Follow key hygiene tips indefinitely. Tips are:
- Throw out all lotions or creams that you dip your hands into and replace with pumps or pour bottles.
- Use liquid(pour or pump) soaps instead of bar soaps.
- Wash hands frequently or use hand sanitizer(with more than %60 alcohol) such as Germ-X or Purell.
- Do not share personal care items such as razors and brushes.
- Wash all sheets and towels in hot water. Wash sheets every week.
- Use towels and wash cloths only once before washing and do not share.
If you live with a family, consider having the entire family follow the above protocol.
Okay, if you are following the above and still have getting recurrences, you may consider trying bacteriophages, probiotics (for the skin), and CLO2 bath.
For each section, I provide links where you can get more information and do your own research. You may also be able to contact the companies I listed below and see if they can provide you with more information.
I did not contact any of these companies. I was merely searching for alternative MRSA treatments and found that these may be helpful.
Bacteriophage
Bacteriophages are bacteria's natural predators. They destroy and kill bacteria such as MRSA. The downside is that you need to find the right bacteriophage that is specific to the bacteria that you want to kill, in our case, MRSA.
For more information on bacteriophages, watch this really interesting and informative BBC video, and go to this website for more information.
The idea here is to get a culture/swab of your MRSA bacteria and send it to the Clinic in Tiblisi, Georgia. Once they receive your culture, the Clinic will analyze and find the right bacteriophage that is specific to your MRSA strain. They could then prepare the bacteriophages (most likely in small glass vials as shown in the video) and send you a TBD (to be determined) supply of them. You would then administer the bacteriophages by putting it in your bath water, putting it in a spray bottle and spraying directly to infected skin areas, nose, etc.
The great thing about bacteriophages is that it is specific to a certain bacteria. Once it encounters the bacteria, it destroys the bacteria. In the process of killing the bacteria, the bacteriophages actually multiplies and grows (by feeding off of the it) until all the bacteria is destroyed. Once the bacteria is destroyed, the bacteriophages breaks down and goes away.
The take away point here is that it does not destroy good bacteria (or bad bacteria that it is not targeted for).
I have not contacted the clinic for additional information but I really believe it may be entirely possible to do everything via air mail and email and NOT actually have to phsyically fly over there to get treatment. The downside is it may be expensive and take a considerable amount of time (to mail things back and forth).
Probiotics
A company by the name of Gandenlabs, a subsidary Ganden Biotech has patented a method of using probiotics to help prevent bacteria infections on the skin.
Here is a link to their patent. In this patent, they disclose how to make a probiotic bath and probiotic lotions that help prevent skin infections.
The idea here is similar to the theory behind taking probiotics to prevent infections in your gut: You populate your skin with GOOD bacteria so that there will be no room for the BAD bacteria to grow.
Ganden has developed a strain of probiotics called GandenBC that is STRONGER than your typical probiotic.
They claim that their Bacillus coagulans
- SURVIVABILITY Bacillus coagulans survive the manufacturing process and harsh stomach acids to reach the intestinal tract*
- SHELF STABLE Bacillus coagulans requires no refrigeration
- COLONIZATION Bacillus coagulans successfully colonizes the intestines*
- SAFETY 50-plus year history of safe use
- LACTIC ACID PRODUCTION Bacillus coagulans produces the preferred L+ optical isomer of lactic acid*
A water-in-oil or oil-in-water emulsion, cream, lotion, or gel, containing approximately 1×10
6 to 1×109 Bacillus coagulans spores/ml may be used. An exemplary topical gel is prepared by mixing together equal volumes of propylene glycol and water, 1% by weight hydroxypropyl cellulose (MW of 100,000 to 1,000,000 Daltons) and lyophilizedBacillus coagulans culture to a final concentration of approximately 1×106 to 1×109 Bacillus coagulans spores/ml of the combination, and allowing the stirred mixture to sit for 3 to 5 days to form a gel. Other formulations are also presented herein.The
Bacillus coagulans -containing emulsion, cream, lotion, or gel is applied to the area of the skin showing superficial skin infections (e.g., pustules, boils, abscesses, styes or carbuncles) or rash and gently rubbed into the skin and allowed to air-dry. Applications are at-least once per day, and preferably two to three times per day (e.g., morning and night), or after each washing of the infected area for those areas which are washed frequently (e.g., the hands or diaper area). Applications are continued until skin inflammation has subsided and the skin appears normal to the observer. In cases where scab formation has occurred in the infected area, once daily applications are continued until the scabs are no longer present.
Chlorine Dioxide (CLO2)
Chlorine Dioxide is used to treat water by killing the harmful bacteria and virus. It is used by many outdoor enthusiasts who go camping and hiking.
One product that stood out is Klearwater:
From their website, it states that:
KlearWater active Chlorine Dioxide water treatment differs from all other available water treatments in several significant ways;
A) KlearWater is the world's only active, ready to use, Chlorine Dioxide water treatment. Chlorine Dioxide is recognized as one of the most effective methods of eliminating bacteria and viruses from water and surfaces.
B) KlearWater is relatively unaffected by temperature or the PH of the water being treated. It is less affected than other Chlorine Dioxide products because of its durable formulation.
C) KlearWater is multi-use; it can be used as a water treatment, an oral rinse, a surface cleaner and as an emergency wash for cuts, scrapes and blisters. This is an important consideration when packing light for an extended hike. Because of KlearWater's proprietary formula it is more durable than competing products allowing pathogen kills at lower concentrations.
You may have been suggested to try using a Bleach Bath to help prevent MRSA infections but I think that a Chlorine Dioxide Bath using KlearWater would work just as well without the harmful side effects of chlorine.
I think the approach here would be to fill your bath tub 1/3 full and put in the recommended dosage for the amount of water. I would then wait about 10-15 minutes before going into the bath.
Note: Chlorine Dioxide does not actually contain any chlorine.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and I have not (yet) tried any of the above methods. Please do your own research and make sure that you are 100% comfortable with any approach before using it.
12 comments:
You do not mention that roll-on or stick underarm deoderants shoud be avoided when fighting skin infections - use spray type.
Here is some more info. to help with researching phage therapy:
Superbugs, phage therapy: Getting beyond bullshit!
The absurdity of the superbug crisis consists of the fact that the French-Canadian microbiologist, Felix d'Herelle, while working at the Institute Pasteur in Paris in 1917 discovered and promoted bacteriophage therapy which can treat many of these infections, long before we created the antibiotic-resistance superbug crisis through massive abuse of antimicrobials. In spite of a voluminous literature attesting to the scientific validity and medical effectiveness of phage therapy (see http://www.phage.org and find phage therapy references), there are still phage therapy deniers who would resist the careful deployment of these weapons of mass-destruction for specific pathogens in the war with superbugs.
What is Phage Therapy? Bacteriophages are highly specific viruses that invade bacterial cells and, in the case of lytic phages, disrupt bacterial metabolism and cause the bacterium to die. While the use of phage therapy was discontinued in the West soon after the discovery of antibiotics they continued to be utilized in Eastern Europe. Phage therapy has been going on as a balancing force in the evolution of microbes for a long time. Medical phage therapy is simply the intervention by humans to ensure that the balance is in favour of bacteriophages over susceptible bacterial pathogens! There is considerable expertise on phage therapy in North America at the research level; however, medical phage therapy is not currently approved or practised; however, according to a letter signed by a former Canadain federal health minister phage therapy can be made available legally to Canadian patients under the Special Access Program of the Food & Drugs Act! Additionally, there are moral and ethical reasons for making phage therapy available in countries that are members of The World Medical Association which states: "In the treatment of a patient, where proven prophylactic, diagnostic and therapeutic methods do not exist or have been ineffective, the physician, with informed consent from the patient, must be free to use unproven or new prophylactic, diagnostic and therapeutic measures, if in the physician's judgement it offers hope of saving life."
A discussion of phage therapy is currently very timely, not only because too many patients are dying of superbug infections; but also because of the recent release of the Canadian film: Killer Cure: The Amazing Adventures of Bacteriophage and the publication of the book by Thomas Haeusler entitled, Viruses vs. Superbugs, a solution to the antibiotics crisis? ( see http://www.bacteriophagetherapy.info ).
Superbugs are everybody’’s business because superbugs make everybody their business and every person should be informed about phage therapy because sooner or later everybody will be faced with an infection or know a relative or friend who will be suffering or dying with one. Withholding such treatment from patients when antibiotics are failing ought to be a crime; however, those who have the money, knowledge and time to travel when faced with an infection where antibiotics are failing may be able to get phage therapy treatment in Georgia ( http://www.phagetherapycenter.com ) or Poland - http://www.aite.wroclaw.pl/phages/phages.html or more recently at the Wound Care Center, Lubbock, Texas ( http://www.woundcarecenter.net/ ) .
Great blog!!!
Does Sustenex fight active MRSA infections?
Also, unfortunately the Wound Care Center in Lubbock only treats open wounds. If you have no wounds, they won't treat you.
Key figures for phage therapy:
Source: Polish Academy of Sciences
Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy
Centre of Excellence since October 2002
Results of bacteriophage treatment (1307 cases)
1307 patients with suppurative bacterial infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria of different species were treated with specific bacteriophages (BP). BP therapy was highly effective; full recovery was noted in 1123 cases (85.9%). In 134 cases (10.9%) transient improvement was observed and only in 50 cases (3.8%) BP treatment was found to be ineffective. The results confirm the high effectiveness of BP therapy in combating bacterial infections which do not respond to treatment with all available antibiotics.
2311 out of 2433 bacterial isolates(95%) of Staphylococcus were sensitive to the set of phages.
Typical cost:
Out-patient care: $2,500.00 - $7,500.00
In-patient care: $5,000.00 - $20,000
Normally, it can take up to 4 weeks from receipt of your samples and reports to complete our laboratory analysis.
So, it's not cheap (although cheap compared to hospital stays), and the logistical process can take a month or more. However, it has a high success rate and is essentially a cure, not just a management treatment.
Efficient redundancy?
It might interest this group that the first application of phage therapie is considered to be the treatment of staphylococcal skin infection by Bruynoghe and Maisin in 1921. Here we are almost 100 years later talking about reinventing phage therapy rather than sending some doctors and scientists to Georgia and Poland to learn the technique and start treating patients when antibiotics fail or patients are allergic to antibiotics - I call that 'efficient redundancy' and how green is that?
See:
Phagentherapie
www.raack.de/phage/phage.pdf
Spokesthingy and Newb-
Thanks for posting additional helpful info!
According to the Probiotics patent, it does claim to have antibacterial effects.
I don't remember specifically which bacteria and I don't know if it will be helpful in fighting an active MRSA infection.
I went back an took another quick look at the probiotics patent and it does claim to be able to treat skin infections. I've updated my post and included a section from their patent detailing it.
Here is some more interesting stuff about phage therapy:
It is interesting that at least three religions have passages that can reasonably be explained scientifically as eluding to a recognition of phage therapy. Islam has 'The Hadith of the Fly' and Christianity has 2 Kings 5:14 and of course, Hinduism has the story of the healing powers of the river, Gagna, which has been shown to teem with bacteriophages active against Vibrio cholerae. It is therefore not surprising that the scientific literature generally starts with a report by Ernest Hankin, a British bacteriologist, who reported in 1896 on the presence of marked antibacterial activity (against Vibrio cholerae) which he observed in the waters of the Ganges and Jumna rivers in India, and he suggested that an unidentified substance (which passed through fine porcelain filters and was heat labile) was responsible for this phenomenon and for limiting the spread of cholera epidemics.
While googling to verify the religious passages, I discovered that a recent play by Gautam Raja, 'The Invisible River' now explores the religious and scientific issues behind bacteriophage therapy and that this play was staged in England, at the Nehru Centre in London on July 16 and at Lillian Baylis Theatre in Sadler's Well on July 18 - this according to an article in The Hindu, June 22, 2008 entitled 'Invisible River' set to enthral U.K. audience'.
Phage therapy is an interesting case study where religion, science, the arts, journalists and in some places medicine, share the same place, while political, bureaucratic, Western medical and religious leaders, who should and could be promoting the reintroduction of phage therapy to medicine seem to be out to lunch between body counting!
Yea, we definitely need consumer or government action to help bring phage therapy here!!!!
BTW, I did not know this - but Toxic Shock Syndrome from high-absorbency tampons in the 80s was actually caused by...guess what?
S. aureus was successfully cultured from most of the women. A CDC task force investigated the epidemic as the number of reported cases rose throughout the summer of 1980, accompanied by widespread publicity. In September 1980, the CDC reported that users of Rely were at increased risk for developing TSS.
Same bug, different "syndrome," but similar pathogenesis. All the more reason to get phage therapy up & running here. Because this bug seems to keep coming back to haunt us!
BTW - Yes, the Phage Therapy Center can import to you your phages without you having to fly to Georgia in person - as long as you get your doctor's prescription for that.
Although I'm not sure if this would decrease the cost of the treatment any - or if the out-patient estimate already assumes this..
False-quorum-sensing molecules...the "new" potential antibiotics.
BREAKING NEWS! MRSA MAGIC BULLET FOUND!
MRSA 'magic bullet' created
Scientists have created a light-activated "magic bullet" that targets and kills MRSA.
Last Updated: 7:47AM BST 01 Apr 2009
Researchers attached a light-sensitive antimicrobial drug to a protein fragment, or peptide, which latches onto a molecule on the surface of the superbug bacteria.
In this way methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bugs are targeted while human cells are left alone.
The antimicrobial agent, tin chlorin e6, releases destructive molecules that kill the bacteria when exposed to light of the right wavelength.
In tests, the therapy killed 99.97 per cent of 10 million MRSA cells and proved 1,000 times more effective than tin chlorin e6 without the targeting peptide.
The killing mechanism used makes it very unlikely that bacteria will develop resistance against the treatment, say the scientists.
Linda Dekker, from University College London, presented the findings today at the Society for General Microbiology's annual meeting in Harrogate.
"The results from laboratory studies are very encouraging and indicate that this technique might be effective at treating tropical infections such as wound and burn infections," said Ms Dekker.
"This work will require in vivo (outside the laboratory) trials before it can be used. Due to the growing resistance of many organisms to antibiotics, this approach may be the only one available for use against microbes resistant to all known antibiotics."
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