MRSA Symptoms: How to Tell If You Have This Serious Staph Infection

How can you tell if you are suffering from MRSA symptoms or you have a simple skin infection? The thing about MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is that it normally starts out looking like just about any other skin infection or staph infection but it can be much more dangerous. This is why it is important that people recognize the symptoms of MRSA and seek treatment as soon as possible.

What is MRSA?
MRSA is often tomes referred to as a "super bug." This is because it is a strain of the Staphylococcus (staph) bacteria that is resistant to normal antibiotics that usually kill basic staph infections. Since MRSA doesn't' respond to normal antibiotics this type of infection is usually very serious and can even be fatal.

About a third of the population has a type of staph bacteria on their body at any given time but it doesn't make them sick. It is when the bacteria enters the body through things such as a cut or other type of wound that the person may become sick and get a staph infection such as MRSA. Some staph infections may not do any harm, but ones like MRSA are very serious.

MRSA Symptoms
When trying to identify MRSA symptoms, one must realize that most staph infections start out all the same way. It starts with a red bumps on the skin that look similar to a boil or pimple. A MRSA infection may also resemble a spider bite and can often be misdiagnosed as one. The area around the bumps continue to get swollen and will continue to fill with pus if they are not treated.

Commonly a person may experience a MRSA infection in a surgical wound. With this type of infection, the MRSA symptoms may be that the wound fills with pus and becomes swollen and red. The area may not necessarily look like boils or spider bites.

A MRSA infection, if left untreated, will start to infect other areas of the body such as the lungs, urinary tract, and bloodstream. Besides the skin infection one of the first MRSA symptoms that may be discovered is a fever and chills. This is because the bacteria are attacking the body and the immune system is trying to fight it off.

If the staph infection does travel to the lungs, the person may come down with pneumonia. They may have shortness of breath or severe coughing along with the fever. As mentioned people who have a MRSA infection may also notice that they have a urinary tract infection as well.

When to Seek Treatment
If you show any symptoms of a MRSA or any type of staph infection you want to see your doctor as soon as possible. These types of infections are usually fast moving and a person can go from feeling fine one day to quite sick the next.

Although a MRSA infection is usually treated quite easily, it is still a very serious condition that needs to be treated as soon as possible to make a full recovery.

Be aware that people who have a compromised immune system are at a greater risk of getting suffering from more severe MRSA symptoms and the infection can be fatal in these types of people.

Sources:
www.webmd.com
www.medicinenet.com