MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)



MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)

What is it? - “Super bug”

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a Bacterium

* Causes infections to different parts of the body

* Tougher to treat due to it’s immune to some commonly used antibiotics

* Symptoms of MRSA depend on where you’re infected

Example: most often causes mild skin infections

A. pimples

B. boils

Can cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, lungs, and the urinary tract. Most MRSA infections aren’t serious but some can be life-threatening.

What causes it? Where does it live?

Garden – Variety Staph (common bacteria) that can live on our bodies.

Healthy people carry staph without being infected.

25-30% of us have staph bacteria in our noses.

When is it a problem?

Staph is a problem when it manages to get into the body through a cut.

Once there it can cause an infection.

Staph is one of the most common causes of skin infections in the US.

Most of the time these are minor and don’t need special treatment; however, staph can cause serious problems like infected wounds or pneumonia.

Is it treatable, if so how?

Usually staph can be treated by antibiotics, however, in this case some strains of staph such as MRSA have become resistant to most antibiotics that once destroyed them, they have now found a way to adapt and have become immune to:

1. Methicillin

2. Amoxicillin

3. Penicillin

4. Oxacillin

Antibiotics that still work are:

1. Bactrim

2. Vancocin

3. Vancomycin

4. Levaquin

5. Cubicin

6. Targocid

Who gets MRSA? How is it transmitted?

A. People who have weak immune systems and are living in hospitals, nursing

homes, and other health care centers

B. Transmission by contact, such as touching another person who has it on the skin

C. Touching objects that have the bacteria on them

D. MRSA “colonized” by about 1 % of the population, most of them aren’t infected

Where can the infections develop?

Infections can appear around surgical wounds or invasive devices such as catheters or feeding tubes.

Rates of infection in hospitals are currently on the rise, especially intensive care units from around the world.

In U.S. hospitals, MRSA infections account for up to 40%-50% of the staph infections.

Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA)

MRSA has been known to develop in healthy people who are not living in a hospital.

This type of MRSA is community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA.

A report by the CDC in 2003 states that 12% of the people with MRSA infections had CA-MRSA

Who in the community are at risk?

Populations that share close quarters or experience more skin-to-skin contact.

A. team athletes

B. military recruits

C. prisoners

D. general community in certain geographic regions

The Journal of the American Medical Association stated:

1. The average age of people with MRSA in hospital or healthcare facility was 68 years old.

2. The average age of a person with CA-MRSA was only 23 years old.

Understanding MRSA symptoms

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of MRSA depend on where you’ve been infected.

MRSA most often appears as a skin infection, like a boil or abscess.

• Swollen

• Red

• Painful

• Pus filled

Note: Many people who actually have staph infections often mistake it for a spider bite.

If staph infects the lungs and causes pneumonia, you might have:

• Shortness of breath

• Fever

• Chills

MRSA can cause many other symptoms since it can infect the urinary tract or the bloodstream.

Extreme cases can result in necrotizing fasciltis, or “flesh-eating”

bacterial infections.

• serious skin infections

• spread quickly

• necrotizing fasciltis caused by staph is rare

When should you call your doctor?

If you’re already being treated for an infection, watch for signs that your medicine isn’t working. If you’re taking an antibiotic, call your doctor:

• The infection is no better after three or four days

• The infection keeps getting worse

• You develop a fever, or your fever gets worse

People who are ill or have a compromised immune system have a greater risk of getting MRSA.

• If you have a condition that lowers your immunity

• If you think you might have an infection

How do I know if I have it?

Your doctor can run lab tests to determine if you have MRSA or not.

• Your doctor takes a culture from infected area

• Depending on symptoms, your doctor might test your blood, urine, and sputum

How can I prevent MRSA?

Staph is spread by contact. You can get it you touch a person who carries the bacteria or if you touch something that an infected person touched.

The CDC says that the following things have been associated with the spread of MRSA.

• Close skin - to - skin contact

• Openings in the skin, like cuts or abrasions

• Contaminated items and surfaces

• Crowded living conditions, like in hospitals or prisons

• Poor hygiene

In health care centers, people who carry MRSA are sometimes isolated from other patients to prevent the bacteria from spreading.

According to the CDC, here are some of the best ways to prevent MRSA.

* Wash your hands. Use soap and water or an alcohol-base hand sanitizer.

Experts suggest that you wash your hands for as long as it takes you to

recite the alphabet.

* Cover your cuts and scrapes with clean bandage.

* This will help the wound to heal.

* It will also prevent you from spreading bacteria to other people.

• Do not touch other people’s wounds or bandages.

• Do not share personal items like towels or razors.

• Wipe down gym equipment before and after use.

• Drying clothes, sheets, and towels in a dryer rather than letting them air dry helps to kill bacteria.

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