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Comment by abadger9 | Hacker News Reader

That's crazy, I was actually diagnosed with this about 3 days ago - it's living on my skin and I went to the doctor because an area of my skin was visibly red and smelling "fleshy" according to the doctor. Currently on antibiotics that I wasn't too fond of taking but after seeing this, will probably be more aggressive with it.

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Please take Staph seriously, it will kill you if you let it. Keep a track of where your skin is red and if it spreads a lot you should go to a hospital and get IV antibiotics. Your doctor can help with all of this but the short of it is, take it seriously.

Thanks, I am - after reading this article also ordered "Jarrow Formulas" probiotic with this MB40 strain.

Link?

This medpagetoday article implies that the supplement from SuperSmart was used (from the photo).

I don't see specific mention of MB40 on the packaging, but Walmart sells this for under $20.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/generalinfect...

For $16, I'll gamble that it will help.

https://us.supersmart.com/en/shop/immune-system/bacillus-sub...

MedPageToday just looked up any product with B. subtilis in it. There is no reason to believe that the study used this brand, or that this product contains the strain under study.

Looks like we are looking for something containing Bacillus subtilis ATCC122264? I'm not seeing anything with "MB40"

Thanks

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/bio-cat-announces-...

That's what MB40 is.

where did you find that? im only seeing jarrow with the DE111 strain

Yup. Iv antibiotics are way more tolerable than pills. I was put on three days of morning iv treatment few years ago because of an infection. Iv days were great. I sat in the er for an hour and went to work as normal. Then they switched me to a week of pills ... i barely left the bathroom for 10 days. Do not fear the iv needle.

Depends on what you mean by "tolerable". Oral antibiotics leave you on the toilet because they go to the gut. The method of action doesn't change the systemic affects though.

If anything, oral antibiotics are more tolerated by the body because half of them are eaten by stomach acid. With an IV, you're putting your kidneys to work.

The University of Iowa published new surgical guidelines some time ago for eliminating nasal staph prior to surgeries.

Many surgical patients with staph complications actually infected themselves, and did not acquire their strains from their hospital surroundings.

My coworker lost a leg to an infection in 2008 after a joint replacement. It is unfortunate that this procedure was not in place at that time.

https://now.uiowa.edu/2013/06/be-gone-bacteria

There's a lot of work in decolonization right now, either with competing bacteria (like the parent article) or with various decolonizing agents.

"Many surgical patients with staph complications actually infected themselves, and did not acquire their strains from their hospital surroundings."

Community acquired Staph is a huge thing. The number of people who get infected from yoga mats, scrapes and cuts playing sports, etc. is huge. The NFL had a problem in locker rooms too a few years back.

I knew someone who got it on a hand, then it started spreading fast in a single line, then he was rushed to the hospital and ended up with all hands and legs amputated. Don't underestimate it.

S. Aureus brought me into hospital for a complete month. Infection in my hip. Nobody knows how it came in. I was 39 years old at this time, that's why I am still alive. I had to take 3 variants of antibiotics at once for 4 months, which killed my liver. Luckily too, the liver could regenerate itself after the treatment. :) Amazing bio device this organ is. The pain killers were the good part. :-P This is a damn sort of bacteria. But in my understanding, almost everybody has some colonies on their skin. So don't panic, but don't be to lax with it.

Spencer's Gel is actually surprisingly good at killing S. Aureus.

Highly recommend. Works fast too.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079S1MVWK?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_...

If it's on your skin, what's the advantage of using this over, say, 50% isopropyl alcohol?

A strain which can cause necrosis in a healthy individual goes under your skin, where not enough alcohol can penetrate.

Again: most strains of S. aureus can not cause a serious infection in someone healthy. Antibiotic abuse drives the selective pressure towards resistant strains.

I finally ordered this after seeing it recommended multiple times for this purpose. Does anyone have first-hand experience with it?

I have a recurrent impetigo infection on my face stemming from dry skin / eczema, with my partner as a possible source of re-infection. I'm hoping this product will make it a less common occurrence, as it's quite debilitating and has persisted for over half a year. The dermatologists I've seen have been of little assistance, only presenting me with drug-based treatments (monthly injections, immunosuppressants) and no advice for treating the root cause.

Topical antibiotics seem to be the only temporary solution for now, as systemic antibiotics seem to have no effect.

What about some phage therapy https://mybacteriophage.net/en-us/collections/bacteriophages... . It's made in Georgia in company that researches phage therapy for past few decades

I'm not an expert here, but I think part of the selling point of phages is their specificity in targeting a particular bacterial strain, and then having the capacity to co-evolve with bacteria to that might otherwise develop immunity to a particular compound. I'd assume this is a valid approach, but probably relies on having a phage "in stock" that targets the particular strain of staph.

By contrast, a probiotic is sort of an ecological approach. Rather than targeting the staph directly, you just introduce something benign that competes with the staphylococcus, preventing it from dominating the environment (i.e. overwhelming your body).

I have an on again off again relationship with culturing kefir. Regular consumption of kefir produced from healthy cultures definitely feels like an immunity shield from food poisoning. I like to imagine that any pathogenic bacteria that find their way into my gut are roughed up by the locals.

those phages are specifically targeting staph infection. this company has a few "off the shelf" ready compounds for sale. given that parent has today problem with staph, priority I think will be to treat it with something that is available (as he is currently trying with antibiotics) and not with probiotics of specific strain that seems to be unobtanium as of now

Sure, if they have an in-stock phage that targets his particular strain of staph, why not?

But the Bacillus subtilis also appears to be readily available. I think if I were faced with a potentially life-threatening staph infection, I'd happily do all of the above: antibiotics, probiotics, and sure, phages too. The latter two seem like low risk things to try (EDIT: but I'd probably at least run the idea past my doc)

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