HOW DID I have this positive pre-surgical nasal swab?? 1 month ago it was neg.

[becky72345]

MRSA? I am 65 and live alone. I don't have illnesses [arthritis & hypothyroid]. Pre-surgically [for knee replacement] I had a nasal swab for Staph. IT WAS Positive!?! It was "colonized" or whatever. But between knowing this and never in my life ever having surgery caused me debilitating anxiety. I was given ointment to apply intra-nasally 2X a day for 5 days.
I cancelled my left Total knee.
My family is shunning me. I feel like a leper. I am not allowed to see or hug my grand children. My grands parents just say "you understand don't you?"
No. I. Don't.
My daughter and the 7 yr old went to urgent care to get tested. They would'nt do it. I haven't seen anyone in 2 weeks, no reason to go to urgent care.
HOW DID I have this positive swab???????? I usually don't leave home.

I'm so confused. :'(

[mkh9]

Hi, Staphylococci or Staph is in the environment and on your skin naturally. So it can get in your nose. Staph aureus is also on your skin MRSA is just the resistant form of Staph aureus. So, you probably have the usual skin form. You can get it anywhere. Usually, if it is in the nose it can be from getting dried out then blowing the nose a lot and so forth.You can just either see if the doctor will give you a topical antibiotic and some pills to get rid of it. If you are not allergic to neosporin (triple antibiotic ointment). I think you can use a swab and put it up your nose for  a week or two run gently and see if it goes away. I had this a few months ago. My doctor said to try the swab method and a humidifier as well. You to follow the directions to keep it clean as it says and it is some amount of work though. If that doesn't work you can take the oral antibiotics such as Bactrim or what ever the give you. They did a culture on me to see if it was resistant or MRSA and it wasn't. It is most likely a not resistant strain. It is not that bad if it is . You can cure it is just harder if you are allergic to penicillin. Just wash your hands after touching the area. You should be fine. If they don't have any symptoms they can be carriers as well. If it isn't MRSA they don't normally treat you if you don't have symptoms.
mkh9