Some people harbor criminals...

...we, apparently, harbor germs.

Ok, so I know I recently admitted I don't like to dust but I swear, we are not dirty people. Yet, I feel we will be blacklisted soon by our school and daycare if I have to keep reporting that one of my children has another MRSA infection. I know as a teacher, I often cringe at the sight of any hint of infection in our students but now as a parent, I have had to admit that all 3 of my children have carried a MRSA infection now.

Adam's repeatedly carried MRSA thanks to his eczema, but thankfully we haven't had any flares with that in over a year (*knock on wood*). This past fall, Sarah picked up an infection that started out as Impetigo then resulted in a MRSA infection. It tried to make a comeback earlier this winter but thankfully has remained dormant since late November after another round of treatment. In some ways, skin infections with these two don't surprise me - they've always had sensitive skin - eczema, breakouts, rashes, etc.

The one child I haven't really had to worry about has been Jacob - until now. Right before Christmas he had a small spot on his back leg that looked like an angry pimple. With some OTC treatments, we were able to get it to settle down and never needed to seek treatment from a Dr. He still has to wear a pull up to bed and recently, he's had more spots like the one from last month pop up on his behind. 1 area looked like a spot of eczema but the other spots looked like pimples again. Over this past week, more have popped up and gotten worse so I was glad that Jacob and Sarah had a Dr appointment yesterday for their annual Well Check.

Since this weekend, the spots have looked more inflamed and I figured they must have become infected. Jacob didn't want us to touch them and fought us when we tried to clean them or put ointment on them. When the Dr took a look today, right away, she agreed there was an infection and said she wanted to culture it. She poked at 2 of the spots and I'll spare you the really gory details of how much gunk came out of those 2 pimple-sized spots. After seeing that, she assumed we were looking at MRSA again.

Again? Seriously? What is wrong with us?? Once he settled down from the pokes and trauma, I asked the Dr what am I doing wrong that we keep ending up with MRSA? She tried to reassure me that it isn't an issue of being 'dirty or clean' but that some people are carriers and with all 3 kids getting it now, they are likely carriers and will be easy targets for infection. Somehow that didn't really reassure me and I still feel awful.

What if every where we go, we're leaving a horrible trail of germs behind us? Or what if every where we go, I have to worry about my kids being susceptible to another infection? What if one of these RESISTANT infections really fights us? We've fought some tough battles with Adam and Sarah but we finally pulled through them. I fear fighting a losing battle one of these times.

So today will be spent dousing every surface area in our house with Lysol (again) and hoping my lil man's rear end feels better very soon. I wonder if I should follow the Pediatrician's course of treatment or contact the dermatologist again for a different approach? I wonder how often we'll have to fight this battle and what other people think of us when we share the news of another MRSA infection. (I seriously debated whether to even write about it...it just sounds so awful!) I wonder if MRSA still has the same horrible connotation it had a few years ago when it really started to break out or if people are desensitized to it now. And I will continue to wonder what we are doing (or not doing) that keeps my children easy targets for these nasty germs.

Has anyone else battled repeated MRSA infections?