Abcess & MRSA

Question
Our lovely pet rat "Kitty" had a swelling on her jaw & when I ran my finger across it it popped & was nasty. I took her to the vet who said her mouth was a mess & filed her teeth back & put her on an antibiotic. I faithfully gave her all of it as directed & when she still had problems he gave her a different antibiotic. She would leave little scratches on my are when I was giving her the meds. I ended up in the hospital with MRSA which required some surgery, she ended up passing away & I am wondering if my MRSA was related to those little scratches. This may be one of those questions we will never have an answer to and I know you are not a vet but thought you may have had some experience in this area before.
Thanks

Answer
Hi Jan

I doubt it was related at all.  In fact, sounds like she had Zymbals gland tumor, which is a nasty malignant mass found on the side of the face, jaw area, under the eye etc.... You can read more about it here on my website:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/allabouttumors.htm

Let me know if this looks anything like what your rat had.

Also, where was the MRSA infection located on you?