How Long After A Possible Exposure Do Symptoms Begin To Occur With MRSA?

It is rather difficult to determine the time it takes for symptoms to begin after contracting MRSA, this is down to the fact it is hard to tell where and when you caught the MRSA virus in the first place.

The time-frame has been discussed widely online; however, there is not a real definitive answer. Many say around five to 10 days after exposure while others claim it will be sooner than this.

There are two forms of MRSA, HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA.
HA-MRSA stands for 'Hospital Acquired' and, as the name indicates, this is the strand of MRSA that is contracted while in hospital. This kind is a little easier to determine when it may have been contracted, especially if the person was only in the hospital for a day or two. However, if they were a long-term patient then it can be a lot harder to track how long it took for symptoms to show.

CA-MRSA stands for 'Community Acquired' and this means it could have been contracted anytime someone was in contact with anyone else. As you can well imagine, this makes it very hard to determine the exact time MRSA was contracted as you are surrounded by people most hours of the day.

If you suspect you may have contracted MRSA then it is crucial to seek medical attention immediately. The sooner it is identified the less serious it can be.

I am a nursing student and have been doing some on-line/textbook research on this for the past hour. The most reasonable estimate that I have found was 48 hours to 2 weeks gestation time for the MRSA bacteria. There isn't really a point in seeing your doctor if you don't have any symptoms, which include redness, fever, excessive tenderness, or discharge... Because they will not be able to make a culture if you have no sores/potentially infected sites. A doctor might ease your mind, though; but it sounds like you shouldn't be terribly worried. MRSA lives in roughly 1/3 (a little less by some approximations, but still a significant percentage) of peoples' nasal cavities. It seems to only become a problem when it enters the blood stream via open wound. Exercise precautions such as washing your hands and clothing after contact and covering open wounds. I just looked at the date you asked this and realized it was about a year ago, I hope neither you nor your children contracted MRSA... Be extra cautious nowadays since this resistant strain of bacteria is on the rise due to excessive use of antibiotics. Cheers.

Unfortunately with MRSA there aren't any true symptoms that a person can rely on to tell them if they have it or not.  Since your mother has it in her ears I would not worry about it too much, just make sure that if you hug her that you do not place your head against hers and don't share pillows or anything like that.  If you truly are worried that you or your children may have been exposed to MRSA then you need to get in to a doctor and be checked out for it.

Incubation period of MRSA is unpredictable and it can take 1-10 days to show symptoms.