Staphylococcus in a child’s intestines - is there any reason to panic?

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Published: 12/18/2017

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Staphylococcus in a child's intestines is not an extraordinary event, because, like all opportunistic bacteria, it is a normal part of the human microflora. The conversation about intestinal staphylococcal infections is not so much about intestinal infection by bacteria, but about food on which many toxins produced by these bacteria have accumulated.

What is the difference and how does this affect the treatment of food poisoning?

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Beneficial and opportunistic bacteria are in balance in the human body. As soon as it is disrupted due to various reasons - weakened immunity, concomitant diseases, stress, injury, taking certain drugs and many others - the number of beneficial bacteria can decrease, and opportunistic bacteria increase, leading to various diseases.

Author:

Trofimova Irina

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Intestinal infections mainly enter the body from the outside, usually through food. Staphylococcus aureus likes to settle on ready-made dishes, especially meat or with butter cream. If storage rules are violated, bacteria develop uncontrollably, releasing about six enterotoxins .

Symptoms of the presence of intestinal pathogen poisons in the body are actually a reaction of the body, which seeks to cleanse itself of infection. There are two such signs:

GENERAL

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are one of the most aggressive microorganisms to humans. The usual habitat for this type of bacteria is the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx; staphylococcus is less common in the gastrointestinal tract.

Facts about the bacterium:

• Staphylococcus aureus got its name due to the golden hue of its colonies in the human body.
• Bacteria are highly resistant to environmental influences and a certain range of antibiotics and disinfectants.
• A quarter of the population of the Russian Federation is a temporary carrier of this microorganism.
• Infants and older people are most susceptible to infection.
• Staphylococcus aureus, its symptoms and treatment is an important chapter in medical practice, since its usually harmless coexistence with other microorganisms of the intestinal microflora can at any time have serious consequences for human health and life.

What is a staph infection

Staphylococcus is a spherical bacterium that in hollow organs (intestines, ureter, nasal passages) can create multilayer colonies, displace the normal microflora of the mucous membranes and cause serious diseases that threaten the patient’s life.

A feature of the infection is its resistance to antibiotics.

One type of staphylococcus, namely aureus, is considered a hospital bacterium. The use of antiseptics in medical institutions, as well as the unreasonable or incorrect (incomplete course) use of antibiotics has led to the fact that the bacterium has developed resistance (immunity) to antibacterial agents. This fact complicates and makes it difficult to fight it.

With extensive colonization by the bacterium, an infectious disease develops, the clinical manifestations of which will depend on the affected organ.

The danger of staphylococcus lies in the release of toxins that poison the body, causing symptoms of intoxication. Bacteria also have a suppressive effect on the human immune system, which allows them to multiply quickly and unhindered. From the intestines, staphylococcus can penetrate the blood, spread throughout the body and colonize internal organs (kidneys, brain, lungs). Then meningitis (inflammation of the meninges), pneumonia (pneumonia) or sepsis (blood poisoning) develops. Each of these conditions threatens the patient's life.

CAUSES

The first reasons for the appearance of Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines is the consumption of food products that have been kept for a long time in rooms with a temperature regime that does not correspond to their storage conditions.

Causes of infection:

• The nutritional mechanism of entry is neglect of personal hygiene rules after contact with the feces and vomit of an infected person.
• The official mechanism of infection is incomplete sterilization of medical equipment.
• Insufficient qualifications of medical personnel when performing surgical operations.
• Failure to comply with the rules of the sanitary and epidemiological regime in medical institutions.
• Immunity weakened by acute viral infections.
• Using antibiotics without consulting a specialist.

In rare cases, infection with Staphylococcus aureus can occur while swimming in bodies of water with stagnant water.

Staphylococcus during pregnancy

During pregnancy, a woman's immunity is weakened and her defenses are reduced. At this time, the female body is most vulnerable and open to various microbes, including staphylococcus.

1. The least dangerous to the health of a pregnant woman and the unborn child is saprophytic staphylococcus, which is most often localized on the mucous membrane of the bladder, urethra, and genital organs and causes the following diseases in pregnant women: cystitis, nephritis, urethritis.
2. More dangerous at this crucial time for a woman is staphylococcus epidermidis, a normal inhabitant of the skin. This microorganism can cause sepsis and endocarditis in a pregnant woman, which often ends in the loss of the child and the death of the woman.
3. Staphylococcus aureus is the most dangerous microbe of this group, threatening the life and health of the mother and fetus. In pregnant women, it can cause serious diseases - mastitis, inflammation of the lungs, meninges, peritoneum, furunculosis, acne. Staphylococcus aureus often causes infection of the amniotic membranes and the fetus itself. In a newborn it causes pemphigus.
4. Hemolytic staphylococcus is often activated during pregnancy and causes acute tonsillitis.

Every pregnant woman, after registering at the antenatal clinic, must undergo a number of mandatory examinations, including tests for staphylococcus in a microbiological laboratory. The bacteriologist counts the number of grown colonies that correspond in morphological, cultural and biochemical properties to Staphylococcus aureus. If their number exceeds the norm, then the pregnant woman is prescribed appropriate treatment, which consists of sanitizing the nasopharynx with antiseptics, using immunomodulators, local antibiotics or staphylococcal bacteriophage. Staphylococcus in the nose in pregnant women is treated by instilling antiseptic solutions into the nasal passages. In order to prevent infection of the child, pregnant women are immunized with staphylococcal toxoid.

Preventive measures during pregnancy:

• Personal hygiene,
• Regular walks in the fresh air
• Balanced diet,
• Ventilation of the room,
• Gymnastics for pregnant women.

When the first symptoms of staphylococcus appear, you should gargle and rinse your nose with a warm water-salt solution every three hours.

CLASSIFICATION

Staphylococcal infection in the intestines is characterized by the following characteristics.

By localization:

• Enteritis and enterocolitis - characterized by a gradual onset of symptoms; has all the signs of a cold.
• Toxic infection – characterized by a severe course; signs of food poisoning are clearly visible.

By degree of activity:

• First degree – there are no signs of pathological processes; with strong immunity, treatment is not required.
• Second degree - signs of mild pathologies may appear; in some cases, antibacterial therapy is prescribed.
• Third degree - can provoke serious inflammatory processes in the body; Antibacterial therapy is required.
• Fourth degree - all the symptoms of Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines are detected, often in acute form; mandatory complex treatment is prescribed.

By diseases caused:

• Infectious.
• Intoxicating.

SYMPTOMS

In adults, symptoms of Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines appear within the first 4-5 hours after infection, which is due to its short incubation period.

Clinical manifestations:

• vomiting, diarrhea;
• constant cutting pain in the abdomen;
• mucus and blood streaks in the stool;
• impaired or completely absent appetite;
• increased body temperature;
• skin rashes and ulcers;
• diaper rash;
• pneumonia;
• infectious processes in the intestines;
• dysbacteriosis, flatulence;
• colic;
• severe fatigue;
• low blood pressure.

The vagueness and ambiguity of the symptoms of staphylococcus in the intestines require careful diagnosis by an appropriate specialist.

Signs of intestinal staphylococcus

Having penetrated the intestines, Staphylococcus aureus immediately provokes the appearance of the first symptoms of intoxication. Typically the incubation period ranges from 30 minutes to 6 hours.

An infected person exhibits the following symptoms:

• stool disorders, frequent urge to defecate;
• feces acquire a liquid consistency with mucus impurities. In certain situations, blood may be present in the feces;
• acute pain localized in the epigastric region and lower abdomen;
• nausea and vomiting, independent of food intake;
• irritation of the skin near the anus;
• slight increase in temperature;
• loss of appetite and fatigue;
• headaches and dizziness.

In children, infection is more acute. The skin becomes covered with rashes, the child often spits up. Most often, the stool is rapid, foamy, profuse, with a greenish tint. Blood and mucus may be present in the stool. In some situations, the baby's temperature may rise. The baby becomes capricious and lethargic and refuses to feed. To confirm infection, tests and laboratory tests are prescribed.

DIAGNOSTICS

Diagnosis of Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines is based on two methods, which are preceded by a mandatory oral questioning of the patient and taking blood for a general clinical analysis.

Diagnostic methods:

• Microscopic - the method is used for preliminary diagnosis of the disease; preparations stained using the Gram method are examined (the bacteria are stained blue).
• Cultural - the method is used to thoroughly establish the pathogenicity of staphylococci. The most commonly used media for cultivating bacteria are: salt agar;
• blood agar;
• meat-extract agar;
• meat-peptone broth.

An antibiogram helps to finally decide how to treat Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines - a method that reveals the resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics.

Diagnostic methods

In the countries of the former USSR, doctors actively use stool analysis for dysbacteriosis to diagnose the state of intestinal flora. In countries with developed medicine, this analysis has long been recognized as uninformative for a number of reasons:

• shows the state of the intestinal lumen flora, and not the parietal flora, which is involved in digestion;
• demonstrates the flora of the final sections of the intestine, which are least involved in the digestion of food and the absorption of useful substances from it;
• despite attempts to derive certain standards for intestinal flora, scientists know little about it, and all the standards are quite arbitrary;
• even significant deviations from normative values ​​without serious symptoms are useless from a medical point of view.

When visiting a doctor with complaints of an intestinal infection, doctors necessarily take samples of stool or vomit for bacterial culture, however, during the time required to obtain results (5-7 days), the peak of the disease, as a rule, passes.

The vast majority of intestinal infections are treated the same way, regardless of the pathogen. When treating children, it is more important to know not the infectious agent, but the state of the body; for this, a clinical blood test and a number of biochemical indicators are indicative.

TREATMENT

Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines involves a set of the following measures:

• Suppression of pathogenic activity of the pathogen.
• Restoring immunity.
• Stimulates metabolism.
• Treatment of concomitant diseases.

Drugs to suppress the pathogen:

• β-lactam antibiotics. This includes drugs based on amoxicillin, oxacillin, cephalexin, cefazolin and others.
• Macrolides. Substances based on erythromycin and clarithromycin.
• Lincosamides. Medicines based on clindamycin.

To restore immunity, in most cases adaptogens, synthetic immunomodulators and antistaphylococcal immunoglobulins are used.

Restoring normal metabolism is achieved by using multivitamins.

Treatment of Staphylococcus aureus in the intestines in adults

Only after determining the patient’s sensitivity to anti-staphylococcal drugs can treatment begin.

Drugs are divided into two groups:

1. stimulating the production of one’s own antibodies, and
2. destroying staphylococcus without stimulating the immune system.

Contrary to popular belief, antibiotics are useless, since the disease is not caused by the bacterium itself, but by the toxins it contains.

Staphylococcal bacteriophage

This is a virus that infects staphylococcus bacteria.

Available in the form of ointments, tablets and liquid form. The course of treatment lasts from 5 to 15 days, everything will depend on the degree of spread of the disease.

Staphylococcal toxoid

This product is a purified and highly neutralized toxin; it is stored and sold in ampoules. This drug forms anti-staphylococcal immunity in the body. It has many contraindications, so be sure to read the instructions.

Antistaphylococcal immunoglobulin

An immunologically active additive, which is a purified protein fraction, which is obtained by isolating donor blood or serum from plasma.

This drug contains very high concentrations of antibodies to staphylococcal alpha-exotoxin, but has a temporary effect and is not able to completely cure the disease.

Aloe preparations

These are different extracts, tablets, aloe juice, which has antimicrobial activity and also acts as a sorbent, absorbing toxic toxins.

COMPLICATIONS

It should be remembered that Staphylococcus aureus is the most dangerous microorganism for humans, since one of its serious complications is sepsis. Spreading through the blood, the bacterium affects vital human organs and causes extremely severe inflammatory processes.

Main complications:

• endocarditis;
• meningitis;
• toxic shock syndrome;
• urethritis, cystitis;
• stomatitis;
• sore throat, pneumonia;
• osteomyelitis;
• coma.

PREVENTION

To prevent questions from arising on how to cure Staphylococcus aureus, you should strictly adhere to the following rules.

Preventive measures:

• observe the rules of personal hygiene;
• do not eat foods that have been stored beyond the specified periods and under conditions that do not meet the recommended ones;
• maintain the body's protective functions at a high level;
• carefully handle medical instruments and equipment;
• Maintain cleanliness and order in the workplace and at home.