At every CF clinic visit, a nurse will swab the back of Carson's throat. It takes about a week to get the results back to see if he has cultured any nasty bugs. He's been pretty clean in the past. He cultured staph once, but we were able to clear it up with antibiotics by his next appointment.
In July, Carson cultured a really nasty bug for CFers--pseudomonas. This has been found to lead to lung function deterioration. I was really upset when we got the call about it. Most CFers will culture it at some point, but I didn't want it to be this early. Carson was put on a 28-day regimine of TOBI, which is an super expensive ($1,600/month) inhaled antibiotic as well as an oral antibiotic.
We had to wait a week after he completed his medication to get another throat culture and then another week to get the results. The results came back on Monday and Carson got rid of it! But...he has now cultured MRSA (which is a drug-resistant form of staph). This poor guy can't catch a break. He was put on an oral antibiotic and a cream we put up his nose twice a day. I got another call on Thursday that they would like to put him on a second antibiotic now. The main antibiotic that they use for MRSA is bactrim, which Carson is allergic to. After the doctors did more research, they decided to add this additional med to help make up for the one he can't take.
We'll know if he gets rid of it after his October clinic visit. If he doesn't, they will just consider it part of his normal flora (bugs he just has). They will also not treat it again unless he's showing some symptoms. As of right now, you'd never know that he had pseudomonas or MRSA.
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