What Is MRSA?

• MRSA is a potentially fatal infection caused by a strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly referred to as "staph." It stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The reason MRSA is so dangerous is that it is a staph infection that is resistant to antibiotics usually used to treat staph infections.
  
  

Symptoms

• According to Medical News Today, many people have immune systems that are strong enough to fight off a staph infection by themselves and experience only mild symptoms. Less healthy people with weak immune systems are far more vulnerable to these infections and can have severe symptoms.
  
  MRSA can start out simply as small red bumps but can turn into deep skin abscesses, according to the Mayo Clinic. The bacteria can also move beyond your skin, causing infections in bones, joints, blood, your heart or your lungs. These more severe examples can be fatal.
  
  Staph is normally found on your skin or in your nostrils. About a third of the population carries staph, and it is very possible that you can carry it without having any signs of infection. This is because staph is only a problem when it enters the body. However, even though you may not be infected, you can still spread the bacteria unknowingly to other people.
  
  

Treament for MRSA

• MRSA is more difficult to treat than a standard staph infection due to how resistant it is to traditional antibiotics. Bacteria can evolve resistances to various antibiotics and become "superbugs." This is partially due to years of unnecessary antibiotic usage to combat colds and flus that don't respond to the drugs, as well as infections that aren't killed off entirely. Continued exposure to antibiotics allows strains of bacteria to adapt, and as they reproduce, their offspring carry the immunities with them.
  
  MRSA isn't resistant to everything, though, and a majority of strains can be killed with vancomycin, teicoplanin and mupirocin. However, the Mayo Clinic says that some hospitals have reported that some MRSA strains are becoming more resistant to vancomycin.
  
  Sometimes antibiotics aren't necessary and MRSA can be treated by surgically draining the infection.
  
  

How to Prevent MRSA

• You can take action to prevent yourself from being infected by MRSA. Staying clean, keeping cuts and scrapes covered, and not sharing personal items can help keep bacteria away, especially since staph is normally spread by physical contact.
  
  

Rising Prevalence of MRSA

• According to the Mayo Clinic, most MRSA infections usually occur in health-care settings, including hospitals. When this happens, MRSA is referred to as health care-associated MRSA, or HA-MRSA. Typical victims of HA-MRSA are older people and people with weak immune systems. CA-MRSA, or community-associated MRSA, has become a concern, affecting normally healthy people outside of a health-care setting.