MRSA and PMR are they linked together

[jensen0518]

MRSA and PMR

August I had MRSA on my left arm I needed surgery to remove part of the dead skin I wad lucky I recovered completely In December 2018 was diagnosed with PMR Does anybody know or heard of anything that would link MRSA and PMR together the doctors do not think me having MRSA and nothing to do with me having PMR I saw a study that showed the long effects of MRSA

Any information appreciated

New study reveals how MRSA infection can permanently harm immune function

[SheffieldJane]

That is an interesting link. I knew that many of us experience an acute illness before the onset of PMR. Perhaps the final straw for the immune system.

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Not necessarily- but as Jane says PMR can often follow a a trauma of some sort.

[Telian]

I didn't have MRSA but a nasty food poisoning where I couldn't eat for weeks prior to diagnosis of GCA and PMR. Just prior my psoriasis, which had been in remission for years came back - was covered head to toe. Agree with others it's the reduced immune system that has a hand in it too - don't know which comes first though.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

This is the study you mention:

hms.harvard.edu/news/lastin...

I don't think there is a link as such - except the effect the MRSA infection could have on your immune system in the same way as any other infection would do as one of the factors involved in triggering the PMR. And to some extent that ties in with what the study found. An infection impairs how the immune system works.

However - there is a link in that PMR presents with very similar symptoms to some of the conditions that MRSA can be implicated in. And the treatment of PMR may contribute: for example, a patient was admitted to hospital with suspected PMR. The A&E doctor did various tests and suspected polymyositis - similar symptoms to PMR but with a raised creatine kinase as it breaks down muscle tissue - which is also treated with corticosteroids. This patient may already have had the systemic MRSA infection and it was causing the symptoms that were mistakenly thought to be PMR and then polymositis. She became more sick - and eventually died of pneumonia, partly it was felt because of the suppressed immune system allowing the MRSA to develop rather than helping fight it.

Remember almost all of us have MRSA present on our body, it is part of the normal skin flora. It only causes problems when it gets somewhere it shouldn't be - in wounds for example - and isn't recognised quickly so it can be treated appropriately.

[jensen0518]

Thank you

That was the study I was looking at