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What about Bac-Out?  You can get it at the coop I think (I get mine out west).  I use it in the cloth dipes and it is not strong like bleach.  BTW, your staph thing has really freaked me out and anytime T or L get a pimple I watch it like a hawk....

Katie, you freak me out.  I get so worried about staph/strep and all the time my kids spend in gyms and in contact with weight machines and mats.  

I wonder if Tea Tree oil would be helpful?

i 2ed the tea tree oil idea...

I remember the egg/mayo smell.

Tea tree oil works great, but it doesn't smell wonderful, either. I would apply it directly to the boil, pimple, whatever, and use lavender (and maybe some others listed below) in the bath water, followed by each person spraying out the tub with a 1/10 bleach/H2O solution after each bath.

I've been poking around on the internet and there are studies with tea tree and lavender combined, that left on the skin have helped treat MSRA.

Lavender can help with immune system building so I would start using it with your humidifier (and maybe some of the other oils listed below) if you use one in the winter and putting 10-12 drops in each load of laundry.

I got a washer with the 'sanitize' setting that heats the water up higher than normal washers. I would get one if you can, and don't already have one, and start washing sheets, towels, etc on this setting.

I would use tea tree in the water you use to clean surfaces in your home, such as the bathroom, floors, etc. I don't know if it damages hardwood floors though.

One blend I saw for MSRA treatment and prevention is Eucalyptus, Thyme, Tea Tree, Lemon, Rosemary, Cinnamon Leaf and Bark, Ravensara, Clove. I've never seen Ravensara or Cinnamon bark commonly available. The others you can get at the co-op. Choose the ones whose smells you can tolerate. I know that eucalyptus, tea tree, lemon and rosemary can be applied directly to the skin, and that thyme cannot; it must be diluted in water or oil or it burns. I don't know about the others.

Some companies try to tell you that only their (expensive!) oils are pure enough to be used therapeutically. I myself do not buy that argument and buy the lower-prices ones readily available at places like the co-op. I could be wrong, but I've seen cheap lavender oil take the heat and redness out of a sunburn, cheap tea tree dry up pimples, and cheap thyme and eucalyptus help with sinus problems often enough to be a believer.

Even though they say to cover an MSRA wound with a bandage, I would wait til the tea tree oil dries, then apply the bandage. I irritated my skin once by putting the oil on a pimple, then covering it with a bandage.

If the kids' school won't get involved with keeping the locker room, towels, etc., clean, and educating other kids and parents, I would pull my kid out of the sports program. May be drastic but this is scary...

Sorry this is so long but I've used essential oils for some years and I'm a 'true believer' in their bacteria-busting, bug and rodent-repelling, immune-building, and aromatherapy powers. If you want to get into using them, I would get Valerie Ann Worwood's "Complete Guide to Essential Oils and Aromatherapy."

Re: the previous post--you might want to be cautious about putting tea tree or lavendar oils directly on the skin, since it appears they may have estrogenic/antiandrogenic effects.

See

content.nejm.org/.../479

Wow, never heard of that issue! I'm beginning to think nothing is safe! Thanks for the heads-up. I also did some more research yesterday and it appears that cinnamon leaf is most effective against S.A. compared to other oils.

Katie, you didn't mention if it was in fact Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). That's very, very serious if it is.

I hope you all are ok.

Is there maybe a difference between laundry bleach and some kind of "pure" bleach that you might add in just the tiniest amount? I know nothing of these things, but it occurred to me that there might be a difference (like the differrences in vinegar, perhaps?).

I had a bump on my thigh for a long time that I suspect was a Staph-infected boil (never got it properly diagnosed). I tried to get rid of it a bunch of ways but finally my mom suggested I put aloe on it. I started putting aloe on every day after I got out of the shower and it disappeared and hasn't really come back since.