NIH Overview
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Overview
During the past four decades, a type of bacteria has evolved from a controllable nuisance into a serious public health concern. This bacteria is known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. About one-third of people in the world have S. aureus bacteria on their bodies at any given time, primarily in the nose and on the skin. The bacteria can be present but not causing active infection. Of the people with S. aureus present, about 1 percent have MRSA, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Life-threatening MRSA infections can involve anyone, including people living in confined areas or those who have close skin-to-skin contact with others, such as athletes involved in football and wrestling, soldiers kept in close quarters, inmates, childcare workers, and residents of long-term care facilities.
MRSA has attracted the attention of the medical research community, illustrating the urgent need to develop better ways to diagnose and treat bacterial infections.
Transmission
CA-MRSA often enters the body through a cut or scrape and can quickly cause a widespread infection. CA-MRSA can be particularly dangerous in children. Children may be susceptible because their immune systems are not fully developed or they have not developed the specific infection-fighting antibodies to fight off these germs. Living in close quarters with others and poor hygiene may also contribute to a child’s susceptibility. Children and young adults are also much more likely to develop dangerous forms of pneumonia than are older people.
Contact-sport participants also are at risk, both at the amateur and professional levels. The bacteria spread easily through cuts and abrasions, skin-to-skin contact, and even sharing sweaty towels.
Outbreaks of CA-MRSA also have occurred in military training camps, prisons, child- and long-term care facilities, and generally in places where crowding and unsanitary conditions are present.
Healthcare workers, and people in close contact with healthcare workers, also are at increased risk of serious staph infections.
Treatment
Healthcare providers can treat many S. aureus skin infections by draining the abscess or boil and may not need to use antibiotics. Draining of skin boils or abscesses should only be done by a healthcare provider.
For mild to moderate skin infections, incision and drainage by a healthcare provider is the first-line treatment. Before prescribing antibiotics, your provider will consider the potential for antibiotic resistance. Thus, if MRSA is suspected, your provider will avoid treating you with beta-lactam antibiotics.
In contrast to hospital MRSA, most MRSA in community settings remain susceptible to a few antibiotics, such as vancomycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and doxycycline.
For severe infection, doctors will typically use vancomycin intravenously.
Prevention
MRSA commonly spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, openings in the skin (cuts), contaminated items and surfaces, crowded living conditions, and poor hygiene. The best defense is to practice good hygiene, as follows:
- * Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water. Scrub them briskly for at least 15 seconds, then dry them with a disposable towel and use another towel to turn off the faucet. When you don’t have access to soap and water, carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol.
* Always shower promptly after exercising.
* Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed. Keep wounds that are draining or have pus covered with clean, dry bandages. Follow your healthcare provider’s instructions on proper care of the wound. Pus from infected wounds can contain S. aureus and MRSA, so keeping the infection covered will help prevent the spread to others. Bandages or tape can be discarded with regular trash.
* Avoid contact with other people’s wounds or bandages.
* Avoid sharing personal items, such as towels, washcloths, razors, clothes, or uniforms.
* Wash sheets, towels, and clothes that become soiled with water and laundry detergent; use bleach and hot water if possible. Drying clothes in a hot dryer, rather than air-drying, also helps kill bacteria in clothes.
- Tell any healthcare providers who treat you if you have or had an S. aureus or MRSA skin infection. If you have a skin infection that requires treatment, ask your doctor if you should be tested for MRSA. Many doctors prescribe drugs that are not effective against antibiotic-resistant staph, which delays treatment and creates more resistant germs.
- Healthcare providers are fighting back against MRSA infection by tracking bacterial outbreaks and by investing in products, such as antibiotic-coated catheters and gloves that release disinfectants. Other precautions they are taking include wearing a mask when working with people who have weakened immune systems.
MRSA in the News Thousands of people are beginning to realize the importance of scientifically based preventative solutions. Medical doctors are overwhelmed with new infections and the best answers are found in prevention and treatment.
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