Facts About MRSA
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, a Nosocomial Infection
MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Its name stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Unfortunately, it is becoming so prevalent that it is now a household word. Once, it was almost exclusively caught by patients in healthcare facilities, but incidences of community-acquired MRSA are on the rise.
What is MRSA?
Staphylococcus aureus, also known as staph, is a common bacteria that often resides harmlessly on human skin (and in the nose). It usually causes skin infections like pimples and boils, but can also cause more serious infections in the body, like blood infections or pneumonia.
MRSA is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an antibiotic resistant strain of staph. MRSA is a more serious bacteria than normal staph, because it is resistant to a number of antibiotics – including, of course, methicillin. This resistance makes it more difficult to treat. Unfortunately, MRSA is on the rise. By 2004, MRSA accounted for more than half of all staph infections.
What Does This Hospital-Acquired Infection Do?
MRSA causes the same infections that normal staph does, including pimples, boils, cellulitis, blood infections, and food poisoning. Since it is a nosocomial infection that is most prevalent in healthcare settings, it is often caught by people whose immune systems are already compromised. This, paired with its resistance to some antibiotics, makes it more serious than normal staph.
Most often, MRSA infections occur in wounds. This can complicate the healing of surgical sites and increase hospital stays.
It is common for people to harbor MRSA on their bodies without infection, often in the nose. This is called colonization, and these people are considered “colonized” by MRSA. While the MRSA can remain harmless for years, it can cause infection if the person's health is compromised. For instance, if the person becomes wounded, the MRSA is likely to infect the wound.
MRSA is not a problem until it causes an infection – and then it is difficult to treat.
How is This Bacteria Treated?
There are a number of antibiotics that are used to treat MRSA. It is rare for staph to be resistant to some of these antibiotics, like vancomycin. Unfortunately, treatment with these medications can be very costly, and once treated, MRSA does not always stay away. It is very likely that it will recolonize the person once antibiotic treatment has ended.
Community-Acquired MRSA
Although MRSA has historically been considered a hospital-acquired infection, it is increasingly being contracted by relatively healthy people who have had no recent contact with the healthcare system. This is called “community-acquired MRSA,” or “CA-MRSA” for short. Fortunately, CA-MRSA is still relatively rare compared to HA-MRSA, or healthcare-associated MRSA.
How We Can Prevent the Spread of Antibiotic Resistant Staph
Handwashing is the number one way to prevent the spread of MRSA and other nosocomial infections. Healthcare workers should wash their hands before and after contact with each and every patient to ensure that they do not carry MRSA from one patient to another. Also, everyone should practice regular hand hygiene to help prevent acquiring MRSA, or to help prevent the spread of MRSA to an uninfected part of their body (if already colonized with it). If someone is colonized with MRSA, the bacteria most often resides in the nose, so wash the hands especially after touching the nose.
Hand sanitizer prevents spread of MRSA.
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