Infections...Read if you are in Iraq!

[ChipOnShoulder]

On my last trip to the sandbox, roughly a year ago, I got bit by a spider and came down with a MRSA infection. This is a particular nasty infection that is anti-biotic resistent and it damn near killed me - with having to spend a week and a half at a hospital on Tallil Air Base.

Iraq and "Assmanistan" is really fuckin' dirty and lord knows what is floating around. Traditional antibiotics did not work and I ended up having to take Cleosin, a really powerful antibiotic via IV. This shit was so powerful I could taste it while it was administered in my veins.

All wounds, no matter how minor, need to be treated with the utmost in A-septic technique. If you choose to "suck it up" like I did, plan on either fucking dying or spending a long time in a hospital.

[resqparamedic]

On my last trip to the sandbox, roughly a year ago, I got bit by a spider and came down with a MRSA infection. This is a particular nasty infection that is anti-biotic resistent and it damn near killed me - with having to spend a week and a half at a hospital on Tallil Air Base.

Iraq and "Assmanistan" is really fuckin' dirty and lord knows what is floating around. Traditional antibiotics did not work and I ended up having to take Cleosin, a really powerful antibiotic via IV. This shit was so powerful I could taste it while it was administered in my veins.

All wounds, no matter how minor, need to be treated with the utmost in A-septic technique. If you choose to "suck it up" like I did, plan on either fucking dying or spending a long time in a hospital.

Before I hit Iraq and was still in Afghanistan there were some samples of dirt taken from Bagram and Kabul. They were analyzed and had an estimated 15% - 20% as human/animal biological waste and other nasty shit. I know Iraq isn't much better. Also certain bases, like Bagram and K2 in Uzbekistan are loaded with buried hazardous materials.

[GSXRanger]

This is a very good reminder. Hell, I am scared to think of how much dust and shit I ate / swallowed / breathed over there.

The next ten years are gonna be interesting...

Thanks for starting this Doc, and reminding us.

[ChipOnShoulder]

Very little is known about MRSA as far as I could get with the Docs and nurses in Tallil except that alot of wounded Iraq vets get it. My wife/ex wife now came down with it before I did after my second trip. It could have been in my clothes or gear as early as 05', then given to her then given/festered on me secondary to the spider bite. - Who knows? I think this might have happened because the Docs did say it is carried on the skin.

[GoldCoast]

Well raise your hand if you picked up TB in the Middle East...

My hand is up. Anyone else?

[Thursday]

If I recall correctly, MRSA is dormant in up to 15-20% of the US population. It lies dormant on people's skin as well as in their noses, and needs only a fairly minor contact with it to become infected. The best thing to do is just practice good hygiene. Something as simple as washing your hands on a regular basis, not sharing things like drinking glasses are a few of the things to do for prevention.

Also, MRSA isn't the only resistant infection. There is also VRSA ( vancomycin ) ORSA ( oxicillin ) and so on, and the more that antibiotics are used, the more the infections are going to mutate. But that's not to say that if you get an infection you shouldn't take antibiotics, it's just something that the medical community will have to deal with when it gets to that juncture.

[resqparamedic]

If I recall correctly, MRSA is dormant in up to 15-20% of the US population. It lies dormant on people's skin as well as in their noses, and needs only a fairly minor contact with it to become infected. The best thing to do is just practice good hygiene. Something as simple as washing your hands on a regular basis, not sharing things like drinking glasses are a few of the things to do for prevention.

Also, MRSA isn't the only resistant infection. There is also VRSA ( vancomycin ) ORSA ( oxicillin ) and so on, and the more that antibiotics are used, the more the infections are going to mutate. But that's not to say that if you get an infection you shouldn't take antibiotics, it's just something that the medical community will have to deal with when it gets to that juncture.

Also, that is one of the down sides to the trend of everyone and their brother using hand sanitizers and such. The body practices fighting bugs, by actually fighting them. All this anti-germ stuff isn't neccessarily always good. Try old fashioned soap and water.