Staphylocoocus epidermidis

[minmtn]

Dr. Latov--  Hello again.

Would you treat or not treat UTI staph epidermitis >100,000?  If so, with what?

Jan, took Tetracycline 500 mg 4xday for Ecoli UTI.  Felt great for two weeks, then seemed UTI was back, but culture was neg, a surprise due to symptoms and cloudy urine.  After 2 weeks, sought advice with gyn and found vag gardnerella (never before).  I guess the Tetra knocked out my lactobacillis.  Took flagyl but still had symptoms, infection seemed to linger.  Waited couple more weeks and urinary symptoms reemerged.  UTI Culture was positive for staph epidermidis.

My doctor has not treated this and I have a new culture with same staph id (2 mos from original diagnosis.)  Same symptoms and feeling quite ill, very tired.

You provided answers to my previous questions, too bad my doctor will not listen. I just read that if gardnerella infection is accompanied by some other bacteria that starts with “A”, that flagyl is ineffective.  Also read that UTI can sometimes be gardnerella, but it requires a special culture that most commercial outside labs do not run and that it is underdiagnosed because testing isn’t done right.  Also read about gardnerella infection in a lady’s spine (from UTI) that was effectively treated with ampicillin or amoxicillin or one of those “A” meds.  

My doctor does not do actual culture for VG.  He does some in-office test that just shows pos or neg.  (My tests were neg to the other things he tested.)  

I am going to 2 new doctors (gyn and uro) next week in bigger city. Any advice I may take with me? (other than find a new doctor, which I am doing)  

History of chronic UTIs over past 3 years.  Numerous antibiotics. Small kidney stone.
Lots of recent invasive dental treatment; headache, stiff neck, jaw pain and lymph node pain (under chin) for past couple of months, new vitreous detachment L eye, blurry vision, dry mouth and slightly sore throat, like ulcers low in throat that I can't see.  (No oral sex ever)    

Many thanks!

[Stephen Liroff, MD]

In answer to your initial question, yes, I would treat a staph. UTI. The bigger question is why the frequent UTI”S? and of course, what can be done to prevent them.
I would get a sensitivity run on the staph.in order to select the most appropriate antibiotic, though probably a cephalothin such as Keflex would be effective.
If you have gone through menopause, the low estrogen levels can give symptoms that are consistent with a uti but urinalyses and cultures are negative. These situations respond to low doses of estrogen cream placed into the vagina. Stones in the ureters can also give these symptoms but usually are associated with blood in the urine.
You are doing the sensible thing to get another opinion from a urologist, especially given the symptoms of a uti without findings. I have nothing more specific to offer from this distance except to tell you that we cannot always find the cause of recurrent cystitis and sometimes have to start patients on long term preventative low dose antibiotics after a negative work-up.
Good luck!
S.A.Liroff, M.D.

[rmprdl1964]

Hi, The Staphylococcous needs to be controled. In my case the staph caused necrotizing of the testicle and effected skin. I was on numerous antibiotics and was in isolation ICU.

After two weeks of hospital stay I was released again and was left to heal up at home.

Do you know that Flagyl can be harmful to the nervous system. I have a neurological condition where Flagyl harms the nervous system. After this episode I ended up with more neurological problems. Flagyl was needed since some organisms can live without oxygen.

I hope that you can get this controled soon before things become more advanced. I can't remember all the different antibiotics that they prescribed me, but I do remember that there were 4 different ones. The Flagyl also gives you a bad metalic taste that makes eating anything taste like metal. I went from 140lbs. To just around 97lbs.


All the best.

Ron

[minmtn]

Thanks for your suggestion.  I am afraid I do need to take an antibiotic but none has been prescribed.  I don't really want to take one because I typically get adverse effects such as "referred arthritis".  But I'm not getting better without treatment and I certainly don't want the infection to get worse.

Actually I really meant "staphylococcus epidermidis", one of 33 species of genus staphylococcus.  It is usually non-pathogenic, but patients with a compromised immune system are more at risk for developing an infection and I have had chronic UTIs for 3 years. This s. epidermidis was was identified through microculture.  

The Expert at MedHelp that I wrote to is actually Dr. Liroff.  (I have been to a doctor by the name of Latov and accidentally mixed up the names.)  My apologies to Dr. Liroff!  Dr. Liroff has provided excellent advice previously.  If you have never tried the "Expert" option at MedHelp, I highly recommend it.  

Thanks again for your suggestion.

[rmprdl1964]

Hi, Do you mean a UTI and epiditymitis? An infection in the epiditymis of the Testicle.

I had an infection a year after a vasectomy as the Staph virus did it's work I became very ill. Eventually after 3 days I had emergency surgery to remove the left testicle.

The staph virus should be treated with antibiotics. Things can go wrong in a very short time.

All the best.

Ron.