How easily does a Staph Infection spread?!
Question:
How easily does a Staph Infection spread?
Tonight while at Wal-mart, my 5 year-old daughter was talking with another girl. She saw her again while I was waiting in line to check out. After about 5 min. of my daughter talking to this other little girl, her mom turned around and asked if that was my girl. I said yes, and she tells me, you might keep her away, she(her daughter) has a staph infection. Nice to know after a total of 10-15 min. with my girl right next to her. So how easy is it for it to spread? They didn't touch eachother, but they touched a lot of the same things. I can't understand why she would have her daughter in such a public place. So do I have anything to worry about? Thanks for your help.
Answers:
A staph infection is probably the worst of infections and can be very harmful but, it's not that easily spread. If they'd had contact over a period of time, like playing together, I would say, to worry.
That old hat: wash your hands good after playing outside, going to the bathroom, etc, goes here. Take care to wash your hands good after using the public bathroom, playing with strange people (it's good the mother was kind enough to tell you) teach this to your daughter.
Staph infections are a nightmare in hospitals where the infection rate is a zero tolerance due to sterilization. It seems to gain a foot hold through this and spread like wild fire, maybe this is where you got the idea. It can also be deadly in a zero tolerance area.
We all have some staph infections in us to some degree, in the nasal area, so....don't pick blackheads, pimples, your nose, etc.