Mum gets MRSA ‘super bug’ after birth
Difficulty breastfeeding, but symptoms just got worse
A woman whose health deteriorated after giving birth later tested positive for antibiotic-resistant bacteria that’s increasingly common in New Zealand.
The mother-of-two became increasingly unwell — suffering excruciating pain when breastfeeding as well as cold sweats and chills — and found out she had Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) after going to her GP for swabs.
She gave birth by emergency C-section at Auckland City Hospital in May and during level 3 Covid-19 restrictions, and for a few days recovered well.
However, she then became unwell and more than two weeks later received confirmation of MRSA infection.
Following a change of antibiotics her condition has improved but her wound hasn’t healed and she’s not 100 per cent. MRSA infection is caused by staph bacteria that’s become resistant to most antibiotics, and is sometimes called a “super bug” because it’s harder to treat.
Some strains are more harmful and resistant to antibiotics, but most can be treated with certain antibiotics. However, if undetected infections can become serious.
The woman said she initially dismissed the difficulty breastfeeding and cold sweats and occasional chills as owing to sleep deprivation, and a midwife suggested tongue-tie. But she felt worse and worse. “I just drove myself crazy — have I forgotten how to breastfeed? In the middle of the night I’d be Googling how to latch properly. I reached the point where I thought it must be a bacteria infection or yeast infection. It was me going, ‘This is not right, I’m going to the GP’. Luckily I’ve got a really good relationship with my GP . . . I worry about other people who don’t have support.”
The swabs confirmed MRSA on her nipples and C-section incision. By that stage her health had worsened alarmingly, but the new antibiotics began to work after a couple of days.
About 30 per cent of healthy adults have staph bacteria living harmlessly on their skin. Babies sometimes carry the bacteria in their mouths, without this causing health issues.
The woman wanted to speak out to ensure other mothers in a similar situation didn’t ignore their pain and symptoms, or write them off as an expected part of breastfeeding or their recovery. She also worried she’d picked up the infection in hospital.
Auckland DHB director of women’s health Dr Rob Sherwin said it wasn’t possible to confirm if that was the case, “but in New Zealand this is nearly always a communityacquired disease”.
Infection control was taken very seriously, he said, with strict protocols including around hand hygiene. “We help prevent the risk of infection after a woman gives birth via C-section by using skin antisepsis during the operation, good surgical wound care and antibiotics. Unfortunately, the MRSA strain . . . is resistant to most antibiotics and requires a very strong type, which should only be taken if MRSA is confirmed as being present.”
University of Auckland microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles said there were very high rates of staph infections in NZ, compared to other countries like Australia and the UK.
The high rates and frequent use of fusidic acid (an antibiotic) containing creams to treat infections meant MRSA strains had spread. “Many people here have these bacteria living in their noses or on their skin or in their guts so it’s much more likely the woman got this bug either from herself or from someone she knows rather than the hospital.”
Antibiotic resistance has been an issue for more than 50 years but has grown to the extent that scientists have warned of an “antibiotic apocalypse” that will mean common infections become untreatable.