Staph aureus

[Guest guest]

Seven months after my four-level lumbar fusion, I developed a

methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) infection. It necessitated

the emergency removal of all the hardware (rods, screws, crossbraces) from that

fusion, except for the intervertebral spacers, which are of course grown in by

now. My surgeon put me on Ciprofloxacin and Rifampin for six weeks and then sent

me to the infectious diseases people. The ID doctor said I should have been on

IV antibiotics for the first six weeks, and that I would need to remain on oral

antibiotics now for " a long time " , which she defined as at least a year,

possibly lifetime.

What I have is the sensitive variety of Staph, not the methicillin-resistant

superbug MRSA. So my first question is, why do I need to remain on the

antibiotics for so long? The doctor said that, with some hardware still in my

spine (the spacers), I could have a flareup, and that if I went off the

antibiotics and did have a flareup of S. aureus, they would have to start all

over again. So my second question is, why wouldn't the constant presence of

strong antibiotics pretty well guarantee that my currently-sensitive S. aureus

strain would mutate into a more resistant variety like MRSA, just through

survival of the fittest?

Any thoughts? Anyone else out there on a long-term antibiotics regimen?

Thanks! - in New Mexico