Thursday 1 March 2007

Staph aureus (The Bug-er That Got Me)

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Staph aureus
(The Bug-er That Got Me)

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Although I work as a microbiologist and deal with bacteria on a daily basis, I never believed that my illness was work related as I practice the highest standards as required by provincial and hospital regulation and at no time was I asked to perform any questionable or unreasonabley dangerous tasks. I had no visable open sores or wounds which might have served as portals of entry. Gloves were used where appropriate and handwashing was always performed throughout the day. After being in the Medical Laboratory field for close to 30 years, proper procedures have become second nature.

That said, I probably was infected by a bacterial strain that I aquired from the hospital environment. We all pick up and are colonized by bacteria from our surroundings. This is inevitable. A hot soapy shower will reduce the numbers greatly but our body provides ideal breeding grounds for bacteria and they begin to recolonize our skin within a period of as little as 20 minutes.

Having finished a 10 day stretch of work, I found myself rather run down. That, with what from previous experience felt like a sprained back, confined me to bed where I drifted off into a hotand sweaty haze. My back lower back pain was so severe that I eventually could not even make it to the shower. Stewing in my own persperation, unwilling to eat, I probably became more vulnerable and may have infected myself through a small scratch etc.

I cannot find any fault with my place of employment and will not blame anyone else for my illness. If it was self induced, so be it. I will probably never know for sure.

For those who wish to read more about the bacterium which caused my paraplegia please visit my alternate blog post at "Staph aureus (The Bug-er That Got Me)". To avoid redundancy, it will not be repeated here.

Stapylococcus aureus

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1 comment:

Unknown said...

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