MRSA Carrier??

[GlitterGirl224]

Hello Everyone,

I had an infection on my nose and I went to Urgent Care; they gave me antibiotics. Today I went to my Primary Care for a check up. I told him about my nose issue. It has come and gone for a few months, and I told him that.
He swabbed my nose to see if I had MRSA or I am a a MRSA carrier.
I am FREAKING OUT RIGHT NOW....I am a teacher! I feel like if I have MRSA OR if I am a carrier, I can't teach! We have a field trip scheduled for tomorrow and I can't miss it. I am a mess right now.

If I am a carrier, what does that mean?? Can I still work around kids?? I have a niece being born soon, too, and want to hold her-can I?!

I am really upset right now and feel like this is the end of the world.

Any information would be very helpful as I know NOTHING about this.

[specialmom]

Sweetie, you do seem to be full of worry.  Is this new?  The worry, I mean.  That is important to take care of before it careens out of control.  Talk to your doctor about this increase in anxiety with health concerns.  You posted about this issue with your nose on the other forum and said then that you have a history of cellulitis so probably know they can test for staph or MRSA via culture.  

A woman who worked in the cafeteria of my child's school was diagnosed with MRSA and it is not the end of the world.  She did not work while being treated and they cleaned the areas she worked in thoroughly.  No one else got it.  

But really, you went to urgent care.  They probably cultured the area.   What antibiotic did they give you to treat the area?  

[specialmom]

To follow up, if you are unsure of a culture, call the urgent care you went to.  If they practice weird medicine there and don't culture skin infection areas, then you need to see your regular GP for this to be done.  

[mkh9]

GlitterGirl224,
If you had a positive nose swab for MRSA ( it doesn't matter whether it is culture or a molecular method like PCR) if you had antibiotics you should follow up with another culture in a couple of weeks after being off the antibiotics to see if you are clear of it. Then you should be fine to teach or do anything. Many  people carry this on their skin and don't know it. If you have any other questions feel free. MRSA is just  a resistant form of Staphlyoccous bacteria that is normally on the skin. So it can be treated. The fear comes from when some rare people get infections that keep coming back.
Regards,
mkh9