My Brother @darthnava 's Spine Killer: Staphylococcus Aureus

image source

My brother, @darthnava is suffering from thoracic vertebral osteomyelitis, a rare infection in the upper spinal bone area. It is a kind of disease in which bacteria spreads from the bloodstream to the vertebral discs causing discitis, degenerating the disc space and eventually affects the vertebral bodies above and below the disc. The infection weakens the bone causing a deformed spine which may lead for nerves to be crushed probing the body to experience numbness, weakness, pain, tingling sensations as well as bladder or bowel dysfunction. The most common cause for this disease is a bacteria called staphylococcus aureus.

image source

It all started when when my brother acquired a boil on his left knee after a battle with severe cough and flu last December. It spread on his leg and thigh. It was hard to medicate and it is agonizing to experience a boil. Given his condition as a person with disability with cerebral palsy, other tasks such as going to the bathroom had taken a toil on him.

The wound from the boil did heal but it took almost a month from regular common antibiotics. My brother is a type of person who can withstand pain, unless the symptom is severe and he couldn't handle it anymore, then that's the time he would complain and requests to go to the hospital which seldom happens or never at all. He was more content on self-medicating. Little did we know the bacteria: staphylococcus aureus has already spread to the blood stream and slowly making it's way to his spine.

Inch by inch my brother has been experiencing back pains and numbness, he couldn't understand the sensation he felt and could hardly move his lower extremities sometimes. He would decline going out with the family outings and just stay home. We were puzzled by his new behavior. He knew something was wrong, and he was the one who researched and asked help from his high school batchmate, a doctor he is friends with in facebook who referred him to another doctor. He then recommended my brother to get an MRI and x-ray. Sad to say his results were not encouraging and was advised to have surgery as soon as possible.

The bacteria staphylococcus aureus has a Gram positive stain and is non-moving small round shaped similar to a grape form (staphylo-) clusters. Microbiology in Pictures described the bacteria:

The golden appearance of colonies of some strains is the etymological root of the bacteria's name; aureus meaning "golden" in Latin.

image source

Staphylococcus aureus was discovered by the surgeon Sir Alexander Ogston in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1880 from the result of surgical abscesses. It can be found in the environment, transmitted in the air through droplets caused by sneezing or coughing. It is usually present on the skin, and can be passed on by infected objects, animals and persons. The bacteria is touted as the "classic opportunist" because it takes advantage of broken skin or other entry areas of the body to cause an infection. To people and animals with low immune system it can be life threatening, it could pave way to develop abscesses, degeneration of tissues striking nerves to develop paralysis just like what happened to my brother whose spine has been eaten up gradually by the deadly bacteria. At the time of the boil infection he just recovered from his lung infection.

Staphylococcus aureus indications:

• Skin infections, such as pimples, impetigo
• Boils also called furuncles, cellulitis folliculitis, carbuncles
• Scalded skin syndrome and abscesses
• Septic arthritis
• lung infections such as pneumonia or tuberculosis
• Brain infections such as meningitis
• Bone infections such as osteomyelitis
• Heart infections such as endocarditis
• Toxic shock syndrome (TSS), as well asbacteremia and septicaemia

Treatment of this bacteria relies on antibiotics, although some strain are resistant to these antibiotics. My brother due to the severity of his condition was prescribed clindamycin and vancomycin. The combination of these drugs is used to treat staph infections with abscesses.

Dr. Elie F. Berbari, MD lead author of the guidelines and associate chair of education for the division of infectious disease at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, Minnesota noted that:

Every year, two to six out of 100,000 people get vertebral osteomyelitis, in which bacteria enter into the blood stream and lodge in a disc, the structure that acts as a shock absorber between vertebrae in the spine. While vertebral osteomyelitis can occur in anyone, the infection is most common in older patients.

Research shows that people or animals are carriers of this bacteria but not susceptible to the disease it causes. However prevention as all say is the key, frequent handwashing and good hygiene are still needed to make sure the bacteria stops spreading and infecting. Cleanliness in the environment is essential as well. Our house is located in a compound where our apartment gets more crowded as our landlord accomodated Marawi City evacuees and we find it difficult to move yet. As soon as @darthnava gets discharged we would provide an adequate room for his recovery and hopefully he can be thoroughly healed from all of this.

Our utmost THANKS and GRATITUDE to the Steemit community for generating the "Miracle Votes" from @darthnava's post.

@shellany

sources:
https://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Spinal-Infections
http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Staphylococcus-Aureus.aspx
https://www.microbiologyinpictures.com/staphylococcus%20aureus.html
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/staph-infections/symptoms-causes/dxc-20322063
https://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Spinal-Infections
http://www.idsociety.org/Vertebral_Osteomyelitis/