Touchy

[Maria]

Johnno,

Could we have another update on Touchy please? Been a little while since last update.

Cheers

Benno

[Lucky_Phill]

I can do that for ya Ben.

Spoke to Jonno.

Touchy is still in ICU, but the Docs are confident he will be in a ward within a week.

The Golden Staph took its toll with a number ( in the teens ) of areas being affected. That is now under control.

All looks better, and Jonno will let you all know when the young fella is in the ward and on the way to full recovery.

Phill

[Got_the_Fever]

That is great news Phill, Thanks for that.

Anya and I are both happy to hear he is on the mend.


Kel

[charleville]

Where did the Golden Staph come from? Is that an infection from within the hospital?


Collectively, we should be very angry if that is the case. >

[Got_the_Fever]

Charlie

Golden Staph is such a resiliant little bugger it is almost impossible to irradicate it. I know at the RBH they have a specialised ward that is not connected to the a/c system in any way. This is to prevent the nasty bugger to spread further through the hospital. All the patients that develop staph are isolated.

The only way to even come close to getting rid of it would be to close the hospital and then hit every surface with a very harsh cleaner, including pulling the a/c ducting out and replacing it. Golden is resistant to almost every antibiotic that is around, it has developed because of the use of antibiotics for everything that we go to the doctors with.

It is not the hospitals fault, but it is something they do take very seriously. Infection Control Nurses and Doctors doing everything they possibly can to try and fix the problem.


Kel

[charleville]

Golden Staph is such a resiliant little bugger it is almost impossible to irradicate it.

Thanks for the explanation, Kel. I am delighted to say that I know absolutely nothing about medical matters - delighted because it means that I have not had an illness of any severity since having whooping cough for severeal months in 1956. (I am tempted to say "Touch wood" here )

One hears so many stories about the perils of hospitals that the great unkowledgeable like me can become a bit suspicious of hospitals.


All of this detracts from the more important matter of knowing how well Touchy is getting along, such distraction I did not mean to do.

For the most part, it seems that he is making steady and good progress, so "Go, Touchy!"

[Got_the_Fever]

I agree with you Charlie. Touchy's recovery is what is important. I have never met him other than reading his reports and some of the stories others have shared. I would be very pleased to meet the man one day and to enjoy his company. So Touchy get better soon a lot of us want to share your company, and pinch some of your fishing spots hehehehe.


Kel

[Bundy_Burp]

Some information I found on golden spaph

Staphylococcus aureus - golden staph

Staphylococcus aureus, or S.aureus, is a type of bacterium that causes infections. It is sometimes referred to as ‘golden staph’.

Before antibiotics, a severe infection was fatal for around 80 per cent of victims. Penicillin was effective in treating S.aureus until the bacterium became resistant. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, new antibiotics such as methicillin and vancomycin were developed which successfully treated S.aureus infections.

However, methicillin-resistant strains of S.aureus evolved in the 1970s and have troubled hospitals worldwide with persistent infections in patients. Vancomycin-resistant strains of S.aureus have emerged in Japan, and strains with partial resistance to vancomycin have been found in the USA, Australia and other countries.

S.aureus can be spread by skin-on-skin contact, or by touching infected surfaces. It can cause a range of mild to severe infections, which may cause death in some cases.

Hospital patients
S.aureus commonly inhabits the skin, and around three out of every 10 people carry the germ in their noses. These people are called carriers.

In most situations, S.aureus is harmless. If it enters the body through a cut in the skin it can cause a range of mild to severe infections. Hospital patients are more likely to be infected by S.aureus because of surgical or other wounds. These people can face grave danger if their S.aureus infections resist treatment from most types of antibiotics.


Bundy

[CHRIS_aka_GWH]

staph outbreaks are most common in hospital settings because believe or not that is where we house the sick in collective groups, in poorly ventilated, artificially lit environments - the classic catch 22.

[nigelr]

Unfortunately, hospitals can be the most dangerous places on earth.
Comparative to other countries, I believe we in Australia are lucky re the staph contraction rate in most of our hospitals.
Hope Touchy gets out ASAP, home will never look sweeter!
Godspeed his recovery!

[Hornblower]

Staph is only one of such a number of dangerous infections that unfortunately are antibiotic resistant, and yes, even the cleanest of hospitals have some of the most deadly staph infections, but I would rather be in one of our hospitals then an overseas one.

Good on you Touchy, keep on keeping on