Staph or Strep in the blood? Is it either, both or what? I'm confused about a diagnosis.?

After surgery my cousin, a diabetic, was diagnosed with staph in August and given Vancomycin (SP?) via IV and his infectious disease doctor checked his blood every week until taking him off the IV in October. His wound wouldn't heal and they had to pack the wound with antibiotics during this three month period. My cousin is now back in the hospital with low blood platelets, a high fever and diarrhea. They thought he might have food poisoning but now the hospital says he has strep in the blood. The doctor (not the infectious disease doctor) is saying there's nothing he can do for my cousin and says he's dying. I'm confused about what my cousin had in the first place, staph or strep. I know infectious disease doctors treat staph but do they treat strep and is strep in the blood contagious?

This is all the information I have and I'm hoping someone can maybe shed some light on this based on what I know. Thank you so much for any help you can provide.

My cousin is 69 years old. I forgot to put that in the original posting. I know that age is a big factor, plus he doesn't like to stick to a diabetic diet like he should. I hope this helps.

diabetics who don't take care of their sugar well get infections that normal people kick off easily.

Strep and staph grow out in cultures that they take from wounds and are identified in the lab by which antibiotic which kills which infection. How old is he? Second opinion?

Ask the doc

It is entirely possible to develop Streptococcus septicemia. It is most likely unrelated to the Staph infection, even though the long term antibiotic therapy may leave the immune system struggling and allow for other bacterial species to initiate infection.

Any bacteria, in high numbers, in the blood stream is dangerous. Streptococcus, depending on the species, is quite difficult to treat. As the body weakens the treatment becomes more complex. Unfortunately, the outcome is often very poor.

Bacteria in the bloodstream is not contagious.

S. agalactiae, or GBS, causes meningitis in neonates and the elderly, with occasional systemic bacteremia.

Toxic shock syndrome is caused by staphylococcal or streptococcal exotoxins. Symptoms include high fever, hypotension, diffuse erythematous rash, and multiple organ involvement that may rapidly progress to severe and intractable shock. Diagnosis is made clinically and by isolating the organism. Treatment includes antibiotics, intensive support, and immunoglobulin.
Vancomycin (INN) (pronounced /藢v忙艐ko蕣藞ma瑟s瑟n/) is a glycopeptide antibiotic used in the prophylaxis and treatment of infections caused by Gram-positive bacteria. It has traditionally been reserved as a drug of "last resort", used only after treatment with other antibiotics had failed, although the emergence of vancomycin-resistant organisms means that it is increasingly being displaced from this role by linezolid and the carbapenems.

I agree with the first two answers given by my colleagues. Your cousin's diabetes greatly complicates matters and delays healing. Infectious Disease specialists treat infectious diseases no matter what the cause but septicemia isn't contagious. If your cousin has Strep bacteria in his blood, he has septicemia. You spelled vancomycin correctly. Either Staph or Strep in the blood is bad and he may have started with a Staph infection in his wound but also developed a secondary Strep infection in the wound that got into his bloodstream.
I wish I could add something more hopeful.