Then, my attention sharpened along with a slight ringing in my head as the name for the Super Bug jumped at me. Klebsiella Pneumoniae (KPC). This is the very diagnosis that I had been given a couple of months ago, it had been found after direct testing of my bladder, and it is still an ongoing battle.
It would seem that the location of this bug in your body is critical, but after reading the below article, I wondered if I should be a little freaked about about my own tests confirming I have Klebsiella Pneumoniae. Needless to say, this article prompted my jaw to hang open a tad. Is my version of it contagious?
Indeed, I had been told that this would be an uphill battle for me, especially since my immune system is suppressed due to having Addison's disease and due to the treatment for Addison's being steroids, which hampers healing. No one mentioned that I might be contagious or even wanted to discuss it further, other than the doctor's office calling me to give me the diagnosis. I had to tell the nurse to hold on a second, this long weird word needed a pen and paper to make it more understandable. As the nurse said each letter so I could spell out the words, I could not even understand what she was telling me. I'd never seen those words before. And no, I was not impressed with this doctor's office handling of the matter. She pushed me back to my Internal Medicine doctor and told HIM to treat this diagnosis. So sweet.
But, I do know that if this germ hits the lungs, then death is mostly likely to occur. I am still very confused about this germ/bacteria and how it could be in my body, isolated to one area? If you know of any answers, please share.
There is no doubt that I will be calling my doctor tomorrow to find out more about my own situation. I certainly need to pin down the facts about the potential for this germ to spread. In my situation, the initial explanation is that it is contained within my body. But, after reading this article, I will not take a brush-off answer, I want details because my oldest daughter is getting married in October and I want to know exactly what I have been dealing with. I will probably go back and be retested...as unpleasant as that had been, I will do whatever is necessary to combat this Super Bug. In fact, I will probably stick with Baylor Medical Center that I have recently found to be excellent at replacing my other doctors and have them do their own tests and treatments, as they see fit to combat my own KPC.
The article I read over the weekend, released via Yahoo online news, is posted below...
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Superbug kills 7th person at Md. NIH hospital
– 8 hrs ago
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — A deadly germ untreatable by most antibiotics has killed a seventh person at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Maryland.
The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/OPQOYb) reported the death Friday. NIH officials told the paper that the boy from Minnesota died Sept. 7. NIH says the boy arrived at the research hospital in Bethesda in April and was being treated for complications from a bone marrow transplant when he contracted the bug.
He was the 19th patient at the hospital to contract an antibiotic-resistant strain of KPC, or Klebsiella pneumoniae. The outbreak stemmed from a single patient carrying the superbug who arrived at the hospital last summer.
The paper reported the Minnesota boy's case marked the first new infection of this superbug at NIH since January.
Thank you for the emails. I am still waiting to find out more information. Wondering how common this is for people to get?
ReplyDeleteLana