Staph infections are no joke on a back country hunt

[TauPhi111]

So one thing I did bring back from Colorado was a nasty staph infection in my leg. I'm writing this as a warning to others and also to ask if anyone else has had problems with infections while hunting in the back country. All I did was scratch my leg a little aggressively, as if you were to scratch open a mosquito bite. Usually this doesn't cause a problem, but when you're not taking a real shower for 5 days, apparently bacteria on your skin can cause a real problem. I spent Wednesday morning in the ER having the abscess on my calf drained. This has been one of the great lessons I've learned on this first back country hunt: treat all cuts, scratches, and scrapes seriously, at least with some antibiotic ointment. Anyone else have similar experiences?

 

[rbljack]

been there...done that! I had one as big as a softball develop on my left butt cheek at the back of my thigh. Couldn't hardly sit down. Had to have mine cut and drained, and spent the next 3 weeks having the wife pack gauze into mine so it would heal and was taking prescription meds for the infections.

This is a bit graphic, but I feel its important to mention this for others to know. Mine started and developed into what appeared to be a "zit" for a lack of a better word on the front of my thigh. My mistake was squeezing it to try and drain it. Wasn't easy to work to the surface, and when I did that it made things WAY worse. What happens is that the infection then spreads via you blood stream. I ended up with a large abscess on my butt check, and 3 other smaller ones. Developed a fever too, and got weak. The other small abscesses were in other locations....One under my armpit, and two other small ones.

I went to my doctor and the first thing he did said was...why the hell did you wait this long? This is dangerous! I didn't have med insurance at the time, so he told me to follow his advice EXACTLY and he would try to help. He made a dotted line around the infection and told me to take HOT HOT baths every 2 hours for the next 24 hours and to come back to his office tomorrow. The dotted lines were to see if the infection creeped outside the lines. The hot baths caused the abscess to come to a boil/head so he could cut it open. I need to stress something here...this is NOT something you can do out in the field, don't even try it. Get to a doctor! The next day he was able to cut it open and drain it. But if the redness crossed the dotted lines boundary, I would have been laid up in the hospital for sure.

The only one that had to be cut and drained was the ass cheek one. the others went away while taking prescription meds for infection. I The Dr called mine MRSA (pronounced as Mersa) staph I think. This stuff is NO JOKE! VERY PAINFUL!

 

[TauPhi111]

Yeah mine turned out to be MRSA too, which is a common strain of staph that is resistant to methicillin type antibiotics, i.e. super-staph. Definitely agree with everything rbljack says. When you're not showering, that bacteria builds up on your skin. You get a little cut and in it goes. Any little cut or scrape, throw some Neosporin on it. Now I'm gonna go drive bears in PA with a hole in my leg I gotta keep clean.

 

[5MilesBack]

I usually say "I ALWAYS come home from an elk hunt with blood on me.......and sometimes it's even elk blood". I'm always getting cuts, scratches, scrapes, and bruises from hunting, but have never experienced any kind of infection from them. However when I was in 4th grade I was in Texas and jumping from one oyster covered rock to the next on the bay. Of course I slipped and gashed my knee open from one of the oysters. That was a nasty infection. And my dad being my dad told me to "suck it up" all week and all the way home. By the time we got home my knee was the size of a small watermelon and couldn't bend my leg for over a month. But up hunting......never had any issues with that. I did have a broken off branch stub attached to a blowdown, impale into my shin about an inch after sliding down the steep slope into it one year. Packed and wrapped it, and was good to go.

 

[nrh6.7]

And my dad being my dad told me to "suck it up"...

Sounds a lot like my dad. "Just rub some dirt on it, it'll be fine."

 

[Beendare]

Yeah, the only time I've ever been admitted to a hospital was for one of these infections.

I'm one of those "Just rub dirt in it" guys...but no more. The way it was explained to me by my infectious disease doc, "There are antibiotic resistant bugs out there that just weren't around when we were kids"

I got back from vacation with a raging infection in my elbow. The doc gave me a 2 antibiotic cocktail of Bacteria and Keflex. When he left the room, I was really lucky to get the PA I did. She said, "Todays Friday, don't wait to see us agin on Monday, if you wake up Sunday morning and its not drastically better, don't eat or drink anything and admit yourself to the hospital, asap." She said, "just tell them to check your chart and I will have it all laid out for them."

Sunday rolls around, admitted to the hospital, surgery by 9 am ...and then another positively horrid couple days in the hospital on IV antibiotics. It would have been another day but I doubt they wanted me to wear out the castors on their IV cart.

Edit; BTW, this was only a scrape...like say you scuffed it on some sandpaper. It didn't even bleed....which is a bad thing as the bleeding flushes the wound. Key treatment; Soap and water scrubbing, then AB ointment and bandage...but even if you don't have all that a good soap and water cleaning is THE #1 thing you can do to prevent it.

 

[tyeager2964]

You can also ask your Dr for antibiotics to take with you in your med kit. Even MRSA is typically susceptible to bactrim or clindamycin on the community ie normal setting. Although I think general hygiene can be followed with baby wipes or a cold stream bath once every couple of days in the backcountry preventing this problem

 

[mossyhorn]

Like said earlier, there are bugs out there that weren’t around 20-30 years ago. MRSA is serious stuff that can and will kill you. You’re not going to pick it up in the woods, it’s something you may already be carrying and all it needs is an opening into your blood stream. As a healthcare professional who images people with this stuff all the time, I am always left wondering, why the hell people let these things get so bad before they decide to get help?!?! It’s not worth losing a limb or dying over.

 

[missjordan]

MRSA is no joke! Fiancé got an I️infection about 3 years ago that started as a large boil too on his leg, next thing you know the whole area doubled in size in a matter of a few days. Then you gotta be careful not to pass it onto your spouse and keep everything clean! I felt so bad for him he was so sick, in his case it didn’t give him much time before it really started spreading, I️ couldn’t imagine trying to “wait it out”. The end result could of been devastating.


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[Beendare]

I have a buddy that was waterskiing with his family here in the Sacramento River delta region and while landing his boat he cut his foot.

Next day that foot was 4x the size. Long story but he had that flesh eating bacteria and at one point they were talking about amputating his foot!

As it turned out after a week in the hospital and multiple surgeries digging out big chunks of his infected foot-[yeah, you rub dirt in it guys need that visual to wise up- grin]..... they finally got it under control.

Funny thing is if he would have scrubbed that with soap and water right afterward...he could have prevented it.

 

[SHTF]

Yep I had a nasty one on my Finger this year it sucked and swelled up big time. had to take antibiotics and soak it in epson salts. little hang nail did it to me.

 

[Afhunter1]

I always take "pocket soap" and hand sanitizer with me. I wash my hands at least a few times a day and use the sanitizer if water isn't around. Only weighs ounces and well worth it.

 

[Elkfitness]

I always take "pocket soap" and hand sanitizer with me. I wash my hands at least a few times a day and use the sanitizer if water isn't around. Only weighs ounces and well worth it.

Same here!


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[DenverCountryBoy]

I always take "pocket soap" and hand sanitizer with me. I wash my hands at least a few times a day and use the sanitizer if water isn't around. Only weighs ounces and well worth it.

You can make your own with a grater and a bar of soap.

 

[rbljack]

MRSA is no joke! Fiancé got an I️infection about 3 years ago that started as a large boil too on his leg, next thing you know the whole area doubled in size in a matter of a few days. Then you gotta be careful not to pass it onto your spouse and keep everything clean! I felt so bad for him he was so sick, in his case it didn’t give him much time before it really started spreading, I️ couldn’t imagine trying to “wait it out”. The end result could of been devastating.


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Yep....sounds very similar to my situation. For you guys that say "just rub some dirt in it"....believe me its NOT the thing to try. Kinda of a bad visual but do you remember those little milk cartons we got at school for lunch? those are half a pint. The amount of green nasty smelly puss and blood that came out of my infection was at least TWO of those milk cartons full. Before he cut it open, that damn thing was hot to the touch also. Very warm, very painful, and I was feeling pretty damn sick as well. NEVER....NEVER want to have that crap again. Wet wipes for me, or some anti bacterial soap. Its an "ounce or two of prevention" that is worth having with ya!!

 

[Gobbler36]

Focus on immune system support and taking care of the cut itself. Your skin like your gut can have good bacteria and one of the reasons mrsa has made such a strong comeback is all of the antibiotics being prescribed nilly Willy and all the antibacterial soaps not realizing that these kilt good bacteria also while helping to create antibiotic resistant strains

 

[RBNM]

Whether I'm backpacking or hunting I always keep some betadine solution in a small bottle along with my normal first aid kit. I've had too many close calls with infection to ignore the potential downsides. I once had a heel blister land me in the ER when after only 24 hours there was an infection up to my knee. Also handy are second skin style adhesive bandages like Tegaderm. They block water but allow wounds to breath.

 

[Odell]

Back in my skateboarding days I got a bad shinner that exploded and gave me a fever that I tried to sleep off. Woke up delirious with a read streak running up to my groin. We used to call it ramp aids. Not very pc I guess.

 

[El Gavilan]

Back in the day I had a very similar incident. I was working on Kodiak island, Kodiak NWR. The fisheries biologist and I flew out for 3 day project collecting genetic samples from silver salmon. On the way out I scratched the web of my right hand between my thumb and forefinger. Very minor and didn’t pay any attention to it. That afternoon we went out and caught numerous silvers, cut a fin sample off, stored the sample in a vial and released the fish. I woke up the next morning and my hand was swollen and turning black and I felt like I was coming down with the flu. On day 2 I went ahead and continued catching fish and getting samples. When we got back to the cabin I felt really bad. I searched the cabin for anything I could use to help and found a bottle of bleach, mixed up some 10% bleach and soaked my hand in it. It helped and I went out on the 3rd and final day to complete our 90 fish sample. When I got home that evening, my wife, a nurse, took one look at my hand and the red streaks running up my arm and said your going to the emergency room. I spent 3 days in the hospital with an IV getting powerful antibiotics every 8 hours. The Doc said it was fish poisoning, fairly common in the commercial fishing industry. He said in the old days they either cut off your arm or you died. Caused by strep or staph from the fish slime on their bodies. Not fun at all,and can be very expensive. Definitely don’t ignore these kinds of things when they start.


Sent from the Arizona desert

 

[njdoxie]

I never paid much attention to cuts in the backcountry, but I will now.