[Lani]

Many of my comments below hold for infections other than Staph as well:

one reason can be an infection in the bone, which is probably the case in Sandy H's husband who had the shrapnel injury. Injured bone, especially bony shards which have splintered and lost their blood supply, can be environments where bacteria sit dormant for years and relatively unaffected by antibiotics (because the antibiotics can't get at them as they require the blood supply as a transport to the locations where they must do their work)

They can come back suddenly even 40 years later.


Another area which can harbor infections which spread to other locations later is the valves of the heart, especially if they are abnormal in some way (eg mitral valve prolapse patients need propylactic antibiotics before dental work to prevent bacteria from seeding and colonizing on the valves, only to spread with the blood pumped out of the heart at some later time)

Other areas that can host dormant bacteria which come to awaken and spread later include areas near infected implants, hip replacements, metal plates and screws used to fix fractures, plastic surgery implants for cosmetic purposes, etc.

In addition, although not Staph, recurrent infections can happen in those with poor dental hygiene.

In addition, it is possible that people get recurrent infections because they keep utilizing/ encountering infected areas--there have been lots of stories recently of terrible Staph infections from gym equipment disabling young athletes...hot tubs are notorious areas where people are exposed to large numbers of bacteria (of many sorts)

Hospitals and infusion areas(since people often go there who have been in hospital or who may be found at their visit to require hospitalization because of an infection or other complication) can be colonized with staph which can be quite resistant to antibiotics, known as MRSA.



Herceptin has been described I believe to lower one's blood counts IN CONJUNCTION WITH chemo (whether this is slightly additive or synergistic is unknown in any one individual), but in none of the studies was this felt to be particularly clinically important.

Before jumping to that conclusion, I would make a list of all your risk factors
-including teething babies who attend childcare who bite/nibble your fingers, gym attendance, hottub use, dental implants, orthopedic implants, old open injury infecting bone, etc. A visit with an infectious disease specialist