Symptoms of staph infection

Potential Complications of Staph Infections

Invasive staph infections can cause serious complications that may require immediate medical attention. Symptoms vary depending on the type of infection, your general health, and the location of the infection.

Sepsis

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of infection. Symptoms of sepsis usually include fever, chills, rapid breathing, elevated heart rate, and disorientation.

Your doctor will diagnose you with sepsis if you have an infection and at least two of the following symptoms:

• A body temperature above 100.4 degrees F or below 96.8 degrees F
• A heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute
• A respiratory rate greater than 20 breaths per minute
• A white blood cell count greater than 12,000, less than 4,000, or a band cell count greater than 10 percent (band cells are also known as immature neutrophils, a type of white blood cell)

Septic arthritis

Toxic shock syndrome

• A sudden high fever
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Low blood pressure
• A rash that looks like a sunburn (usually on the palms of your hands or soles of your feet)
• Confusion
• Muscle pain
• Seizures
• Redness in the eyes, mouth or throat
• Headache

Endocarditis

• Fever and chills
• Night sweats
• A new or changed heart murmur
• Shortness of breath
• Painful joints and muscles
• Fatigue
• Chest pain when breathing
• Swelling of the feet, legs or stomach

If endocarditis is left untreated, it can cause a staph infection to spread to other parts of the body.

Osteomyelitis

• Fever
• Chills
• Irritability
• Swelling, warmth, or redness around the infected bone

Rarely, this type of infection has no symptoms.

Bacterial pneumonia

Pneumonia causes inflammation and a buildup of fluid and pus in the air sacs of your lungs. Staph is one of several types of bacteria that can cause pneumonia.

• Cough that produces phlegm
• Chest pain when you breathe or cough
• Fatigue
• High fever
• Sweating or chills
• Confusion (especially in older people)
• Shortness of breath
• Nausea, vomiting or diarrhea

Food poisoning

Signs and symptoms of food poisoning caused by toxins produced by Staphylococcus aureus Bacteria usually appear quickly – within a few hours of eating contaminated food – and also disappear quickly.

• Stomach cramps
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Dehydration
• Low blood pressure

Pyomyositis

• Pain and tenderness near the affected muscle
• Fever
• An abscess or bump under the skin