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Staphylococcus aureus

Question
Hello,
My daughter (5 years old) has CF. The last sputum exam shows Staphylococcus aureus infection (2 strains). She is under antibiotic treatment for 14 days.
We have to stay 10 days with my father who is suffering from cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.
I wanted to know if it would be dangerous for my father that my daughter is a carrier of Staph and whether its needs special precautions or waiving this stay.
Best regards. Thank you.
Answer
Hello,

Staphylococcus aureus is a very common germ in humans. It is found in nasal cavity or throat of 15-30% of healthy individuals. This germ can be responsible for food poisoning, localized suppurative infections, and in some extreme cases of potentially serious infections (immunocompromised patients, cardiac prostheses). Those infections pose more specific therapeutic problems when Staphylococcus aureus is resistant to some antibiotics like methicillin (you do not say whether this was the case of your daughter).
This germ can be transmitted from one person to another by direct contact with the skin (face, hands especially) or indirectly through contact with objects or surfaces contaminated by contact or droplet ejection from the nasal cavity of a person carrying the germ.
The germ transmission prevention measures in daily life are:
- wash hands regularly (before and after meals, after switching to the bathroom or after touching dirty objects) ;
- avoid kissing when one has got a cold ;
- and, in the presence of a person with reduced defenses against infection, wearing a mask to change regularly.
In the particular case you mention, the most radical solution would be to avoid contact, which would be more prudent if your daughter has an methicillin-resistant Staph (MRSA), but the decision must take into account of course the risk but also the context, including the wish of your father and the benefit that the visit of your daughter may provide him.

Best regards
Gilles RAULT, MD, Roscoff CF Center
01.02.2016