• :
  • Member Center
  • :
  • Make This Your Home Page
  • :
  • Special Offers
khou.com Web  

TOP STORIES

Super bug showing up in breastfeeding moms

05:38 PM CST on Monday, February 5, 2007

By Janice Williamson / 11 News

Click to watch video

You’ve heard of the super bug that’s popping up everywhere.

Doctors now say the super staph is showing up in breastfeeding moms.

Like many a first-time mom, Keeli Bryant wanted to breastfeed her baby.

“I thought it would be more nutritional for him,” Bryant said. “They say the mother’s breast milk is the best, so I thought I’d try that.”

A few weeks later she was diagnosed with a breast infection commonly known as mastitis.

“From a scale of one to 10 it was a 10,” she said. “I mean I was crying. It hurt. It was the worst pain ever.”

She would end up with an abscess and a week long hospital stay.

Bryant’s infection was caused by a super bug: methicillin-resistant staph, a bacteria that can cause life-threatening blood and bone infections.

“I was worried about him,” Bryant said. “I thought does, ‘he have that now and what are we going to do?’”

The number of new moms with MRSA has increased to the point an obstetrics practice here in the Texas Medical Center is taking a closer look at the problem.

Dr. Bethany Peterson’s study of women with mastitis at Memorial Hermann Hospital found 30 percent to 40 percent of patients tested positive for MRSA.

“I’ve actually spoken to a couple of attendings at outside hospitals who are changing their management of mastitis based on the fact they’re seeing so much MRSA,” Dr. Peterson said.

The good news is some physicians are paying closer attention to patients who don’t improve immediately with antibiotics.

Dr. Pam Berens said culturing the infection provides crucial information.

“It’s resistant to four of the drugs we consider as a first line choice, but there are seven other drugs that would work,” UTHSC Dr. Pam Berens said.

Bryant learned she probably got the staph infection from her baby. Both tested positive.

Now she’s more careful about good hygiene and has decided to bottle feed her baby boy. 

Inside KHOU.com

News Your Way: Get KHOU.com headlines
delivered to your favorite RSS reader.

Submit your Pics: Upload photos and browse others in our Pics section.

Submit Your Video: Upload your videos and browse others in our video section.

Find Activities: What's happening in your neighborhood? Community Calendar.

Discuss the News: Talk about the latest news, weather and entertainment headlines in our online forums.

Popular Stories