Can MSSA?MRSA infection damage the liver?

[Mechele]

[Bolly]

I think research has shown that hospitalized patients already weakened by end stage liver disease are more at risk of infection by Staphylococcus aureus and other infections more easily picked up in hospitals, as they tend to be in hospital more often than average.

[Bolly]

Hi Mechele. I've been doing some research on cysts and abscesses for someone else,, and it seems infection by staphylococcus can result in an abscess on the liver (though its more commonly a skin infection problem).

[Mechele in reply to Bolly]

Hi Bolly,

Many thanks for taking the time to research and reply. After many years of battling the NHS for answers to my ill health they have finally admitted I had MSSA. Unfortunately when you have a history of depression on your notes this appears to be their easy get out to say it is mind related. Even though medical evidence says differently. I am still trying to fight my corner on this with a diagnosis of Nash and CFS which is debilitating. Interesting your reply as on my liver ultrasound I could clearly see a problem which the radiographer said was the cause of my ill health. When I go back to the hospital I will ask the question was it an abscess and request another ultrasound even if I have to pay!!

Hope you health is okay, have a great weekend.

Mechele

[Bolly]

Hi Mechele. Sorry to hear you are having such a battle. I found out this info about CT scans and abscesses by chance because a poster on the Hep C Nomads forum had a recent CT scan which picked up 'something smaller than 1cm' (report said it could be a cyst) and he was panicking about it being a tumour. Since treating his HCV he has a long history of gut related pain and problems which no medic has been able to diagnose. He wanted some sort of reassurance that a CT scan with contrast dye could differentiate between lesions, cysts, fatty liver, nodules, tumours etc, and in a radiography textbook I came across a section on diagnosing abscesses from staphylococcus on the liver. Not MRSA or MSSA specifically I hasten to add, but as I understand it MRSA is a type of staphylococcus?

Was the radiographer who commented on the ultrasound the radiographer doing the scan, or the radiographer who wrote the report? I would be cautious about any comment a radiographer doing the scan made, as they are not supposed to comment to a patient. If it was from a report however, this is something to take up with your specialist. If it was from a passing comment, I would ask your specialist (or GP, they should have been sent at least a letter following the scan) for a copy of the full scan results so you can see exactly what they wrote rather than a summary.

I would be reluctant to press for another ultrasound if something suspicious was found, it seems that its CT with contrast dye that will give a clearer result.