Gabe Mirkin, M.D.
A large percentage of people with constant stuffy noses
carry the bacteria, staph aureus, in their noses. Some carriers
have no nasal symptoms at all. People who carry staph aureus
in their noses are at increased risk for not healing when they cut
themselves or have surgery, having sore nipples when they
breast feed, and being unable to control skin diseases such as
eczema or psoriasis. Surgeons who have staph aureus in their
noses are usually not allowed to operate because the germ can
get into surgical wounds and delay healing.
Doctors usually treat skin infections with antibiotic pills
and injections, which readily clear germs from the skin, but oral
and injected antibiotics rarely clear staph aureus from the nose.
After treatment, staph aureus returns to your skin to start another
infection. Most of the time, you can clear staph aureus from your
nose by applying an antibiotic ointment in your nose at bedtime
for several weeks. You can buy inexpensive bacitracin or
neosporin ointment without a prescription (in the first-aid section
of your pharmacy or supermarket) and apply a small amount
inside your nostrils for several weeks. Some people need to
apply an antibiotic ointment into their noses for five days each
month for a year to be cured. If you have a resistant staph
aureus that does not respond after a year, your doctor can do a
culture to tell you what antibiotic to use.
More on staph aureus
More on Sinusitis
Checked 2/8/08