This tough bacteria known as MRSA is often called a super bug because it’s so hard to treat

Photo Credits: R Parulan Jr. Getty Images, Thinkstock

Name
MRSA aka methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (pronounced mur-sah)

Transmission

• Staph are common bacteria that live on our skin, in our noses, and in our throats, but MRSA is caused by a type of staph bacteria that is resistant to several antibiotics
  • 1 in 3 people carry harmless staph bacteria
  • But 2 in 100 people carry the dangerous MRSA bacteria which can cause serious problems if it enters the body
• MRSA spreads from person to person through touch and direct contact such as:
  • Contact with an infected wound
  • Sharing personal items like towels, clothes or razors that have touched infected skin
  • Touching an infected surface such as a door handle
• It spreads fast in places with high contact so athletes, students, military personnel, prisoners, nursing home residents, and patients on admission are especially at risk

Geography
Worldwide

Incubation Period
1 – 10 days

Signs and Symptoms
MRSA most often causes skin infections that appear as sores, boils, and bumps. Symptoms include:

• Fever
• Red skin
• Swollen skin
• Painful skin
• A bump on the skin that is warm when you touch it
• An injury that is full of pus or other liquid

Diagnosis
Laboratory testing of tissue samples or nose secretions to find drug-resistant bacteria

Treatment

• MRSA is resistant to methicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, oxacillin, and many other common antibiotics
  • Some antibiotics still work to treat it, but the bacteria is constantly evolving and adapting, making it hard for researchers developing new antibiotics to keep up
• For more serious infections, treatment can include a combination of antibiotic injections that could last several weeks

Prognosis

• When treated early, mild to moderate skin infections usually heal well
• Without treatment, the infection can become severe and cause more serious skin infections or infect other parts of the body such as the urinary tract and bones
  • The prognosis of these invasive infections depends on the severity of the infection and patient’s health status
  • Sometimes it can cause pneumonia
  • It can also lead to blood poisoning called sepsis (a life-threatening reaction to severe infection in the body)

Prevention: What Can You Do?

• Maintain good hand and body hygiene
  • Wash your hands and clean your body often
• Keep cuts, scrapes, and wounds clean and covered until they have healed
• Avoid sharing personal items such as towels and razors

MRSA In the News

• ‘Noxious Weed’ May Provide New Way to Fight Superbugs‘Noxious Weed’ May Provide New Way to Fight Superbugs
• Six intensive care babies infected in superbug outbreak

Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/MRSA/Pages/Introduction.aspx