Staph aureus colonization is very common in bronchiectasis and my doctors were very reluctant to treat it if I was not “sick”. They implied that the nasty sputum was mostly inflammatory progression of bronchitis
True, I wasn’t acutely ill but I was producing progressively larger amounts of sputum and airway clearance was severely affecting my quality of life over the course of more than a year.
I eventually was treated with Bactrim with no effect but then got bronchitis and grew Moraxella in addition to staph
Treated with Augmentin with a dramatic decrease in sputum production to the point where I don’t know how I will provide another sputum sample to monitor for recurrence of NTM! A good problem to have!
So, if you are feeling unwell or producing much sputum please insist on treatment!