MRSA: What is It?

According to MedicineNet.com, MRSA is a staph infection that is resistant to the antibiotic methicillin. Methicillin is the antibiotic that is normally used to treat a staph infection. Thus, the term MRSA...Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. There are a couple other classifications for MRSA according to where the patient acquired it. There are community-acquired MRSA, known as CA-MRSA, and hospital-acquired MRSA also known as epidemic MRSA or EMRSA.

Leading causes of MRSA, according to mayoclinic.com, are using antibiotics in excess or when they are not needed, antibiotic ingestion through the food we eat, and water we drink due to antibiotic treatment of livestock, and germs mutating and forming a resistance to antibiotics. The lasr cause explains why there are now only a handful of antibiotics that will effectively treat most forms of staph infections.

MedicineNet.com states that MRSA can be acquired in two ways. One way is direct physical contact with either a carrier or someone who is infected. A carrier is a person who may not be infected, but has colonized bacteria on their body. This person is carrying the bacteris, but is not sick. The other way MRSA is transmitted is by physical contact with an object that has the colonized bacteria on it such as the sink, floor, clothing, door handles, any surface.

According to mayoclinic.com risk factors for CA-MRSA are young age, playing in contact sports,sharing athletic equipment or towels, having a lowered immune system, living in a crowded or dirty environment, being in close contact with health-care workers. Younger children are at risk because their immune systems are generally not fuuly developed, so they do not have the antibodies needed to fight off the infection, and they often have small cuts or scratches on their bodies that would give an entry for the bacteria. People playing in contact sports are more at risk because of the possibility of cuts and sratches on their bodies, and the sharing of equipment, towels, uniforms, or any other thing that may carry the bacteria. Those who live in dirty or crowded environments are at risk because they have a greater chance of coming in contact with the bacteria. People who are close to health-care workers pose a risk because the health-care worker could easily carry the bacteria on his or her clothing or body.

Those more at risk for EMRSA, are people who have to stay in the hospital or who just left from a stay at the hospital. These people often have weaker immune systems, serious medical problems, burns, or open surgical wounds. People who live in nursing homes are at risk because a patient can carry the bacteria, pass it along and never even know it. The carrier may not get sick, but other patients will. Patients who have a catheter, feeding tube, or receive dialysis are at a higher risk due to the openings in their skin needed for treatment. Recent use of certain antibiotics can also be a risk factor. Of course, the health-care workers are also at risk due to the close contact with people either infected with MRSA or carrying MRSA.

Prevention of MRSA is relatively simple. Use general precautions when dealing with a patient. Wear gloves, face masks, gowns. Wash you hands before touching anything after handling the patient or their belongings. Keep your hair up and wear a protective hair covering when dealing with a patient. Santize sinks, counters, and everythind else that you may touch. Often times, MRSA is contracted by the use of community showers, bathrooms, and dormitories. To help prevent MRSA infection, wear shower shoes when taking a shower, do not share bedding or clothes, Keep good track of your belongings and do not leave personal hygiene items out where they are exposed to other people's things. Wash your clothes separately when at all possible. Most importantly, WASH YOUR HANDS OFTEN!!!

According to MedicineNet.com, most MRSA infections begin with skin infections and can include symptoms such as impetigo, which is a skin infection with pus-filled blisters. A sty, which is an infection of a gland in the eyelid. An abscess, which is a collection of pus under the skin. A carbuncle which is larger than a normal abscess and usually has more than one opening to the skin.Boils, or an infected hair follicle. Cellulitis, which is an infection of the skin or the fat and tissues that are immediately under the skin. Cellulitus usually starts as small red bumps in the skin.

Occasionally, the skin infections can spread to almost any organ in the body. This causes more severe symptoms. When MRSA spreads to the internal organs, it can become life threatening. Signs and symptoms of this are fever, chills, joint pains, low blood-pressure, severe headaches, shortness of breath, and a rash over most of the body. These symptoms require IMMEDIATE medical attention. People can die from a MRSA infection!

Diagnosing MRSA is done by sending pus from the skin, a skin sample, urine, blood, or a tissue sample to a lab for culture testing. However, there is a more rapid way to test for the MRSA genes. This test can take as little as two hours and can help determine whether it is MRSA or a less dangerous staph infection. This test should not be used for monitoring MRSA treatment, and should not be the only test used to diagnose MRSA.

The good news is that MRSA can still be treated with some specific antibiotics such as Vancocin, Zyvox, and a few others. For carriers, mupirocin cream can potentially eliminate MRSA from the mucus membranes. The most important thing to remember with MRSA or any infection is to take the whole course of antibiotics. This prevents the bacteria from evolving into a resistant strain.