Stopping Staph
What you need to know about MRSA
By Tina Maund, RN

What is Staphylococcus aureus (staph)?
Staphylococcus aureus, often referred to simply as “staph,” are bacteria commonly carried on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. Sometimes, staph can cause an infection. Staph bacteria are one of the most common
causes of skin infections in the United States. Most of these skin infections are minor and can be treated without antibiotics. But staph bacteria also can cause serious infections, including surgical wound infections, bloodstream infections, and pneumonia.

What is MRSA?
MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, a type of bacteria that is resistant to treatment with certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin, and amoxicillin. In the 1940s, staphylococcal infections were treated effectively with penicillin. In the 1950s, however, these bacteria developed resistance to penicillin. In response to this resistance, methicillin, a penicillin derivative, was developed. Methicillin was very effective in treating these infections initially, but over the last ten years –due in part to the over-prescribing of antibiotics–staph aureus developed increased resistance to methicillin, hence the name MRSA. The good news is that, for now, MRSA is still
sensitive to other antibiotics and often can be treated effectively.

What is community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA)?
MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been hospitalized within the past year or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, or catheterization) are known as community-associated MRSA infections. Staph or MRSA infections in the community are usually manifested as skin infections, including abscesses, pimples, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

What does a MRSA infection look like?
MRSA can cause skin infections that may look like a spider bite, pimple, or boil and can be red, swollen, painful, or have pus or other drainage. More serious infections may cause pneumonia, bloodstream infections, or surgical-wound infections.

What contributes to the spread of MRSA?
Factors that have been associated with the spread of MRSA skin infections include:
• close skin-to-skin contact (as in contact sports) with
someone who has a staph infection;
• contact with items and surfaces that have staph on them;
• openings, cuts, or abrasions to the skin;
• sharing personal-care items;
• crowded living conditions;
• poor hygiene.