I think I have an infection in my finger. What should I do?

FRIEND HAS INFECTION IN HAND?

• My friend just found out he has MRSA. His hand started swelling up over the weekend. It wasnt very bad though we just though he jammed his finger or something because he hit a tree a week ago. But monday he woke up and his hand was so huge and puffed up. He went to the hospital and they cut his hand. He has a blister on his hand, u know the spot where u get calluses under ur fingers. Well he obviously messed with it and got an infection. They cut his hand where the blister was and a bunch of pus and infection came out. They put gause deep in the cut and then around his whole hand. They have been changing his bandages and draining his hand for the past couple of days. Today is when they found out the actual bacteria was MRSA, I think its kinda like staph infection. Anyways I was just wondering if you think he is gonna be alright. I mean his hand keeps draining so i guess thats good, and he is getting antibiotics. So does anyone think he's gonna be alright? Whats the worst that could happen? Are his chances good?

• Answer:

  Community-associated MRSA is bad news. MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, so yes, it is a staph infection. The important thing is that he keeps taking the antibiotics and caring for the wound as the doctor recommends. If anyone he has contact with gets any boils from now on, they should see the doctor immediately as CA-MRSA is easily transmitted from person to person. He will likely be ok, assuming that it is just a skin and soft tissue infection and not osteomyelitis (infection in the bone, which may take longer to cure). It is important to remember that he may remain a carrier or MRSA, even after his treatment, possibly for the rest of his life.