A Mother's Battle With MRSA
She's lost one child to the drug-resistant infection and has a newborn with it
Updated 5:32 AM CST, Wed, May 6, 2009
It's a medical mystery. Three years after losing a baby to MRSA, a DuPage County mother has given birth again, only to discover that her newborn also has the drug-resistant infection.
The day Beth Reimer gave birth to Madeline was one of the best in her life. Just a month later, the family gathered as the young baby girl was taken off life support.
Reimer believes her daughter contracted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus -- MRSA -- at the hospital where she was born, so she switched hospitals for the birth of another daughter, Emma.
Doctors ran tests on Emma to make sure she was healthy, but Reimer was told that Emma also had MRSA.
Doctors said Emma's case is isolated and that no other babies at the hospital have tested positive, so how Emma contracted it is uncertain.
Dr. Jeffrey Loughead says that though Emma carries the bacteria, she has no symptoms or signs of infection. Nasal swabs of antibiotics should treat her.
That's a relief for Reimer, a mother who hopes Emma has the life the daughter she lost did not.
Doctors say MRSA is becoming common out in the community, adding that handwashing is the best defense.
First Published: May 5, 2009 8:45 PM CST
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