What Is MRSA? Causes, symptoms and treatment

MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is a bacterial infection that affects different parts of the body. MRSA is hard to treat as the bacterium is resistant to selected common antibiotics.

Causes: MRSA is caused by garden-variety staph, which is common and can be found in the noses of about 33% of the population. Staph can, however, get into the body, often through a cut or sore, eventually causing an infection. For minor infection, treatment is usually not required, but in rare cases, staph can lead to infected wounds and other problems.  MRSA can be spread by contact but having staph doesn’t always lead to an infection.

Symptoms: MRSA infection usually seems like a rash on the skin, with pimples and boils. When it affects a wound, the inflamed skin can have pus. Often, the infection may look like abscess and there can be tenderness. Pus is usually drained through a cut on the abscess. In most severe cases, MRSA infection can cause fevers and chills. How MRSA infection may look also depend which part of the body has been affected?

Treatment: MRSA infection is usually treated antibiotics, but over the years, the staph has become resistant to some of the antibiotics that were previously capable of destroying it. Antibiotics like penicillin, oxacillin, and amoxicillin no longer work for MRSA, and researchers usually come up with new antibiotics for the treatment. People who have surgical wounds, cuts and scrapes are more likely to get MRSA. MRSA is also known to infect people who don’t have a strong immune system, so the elderly and infants are more like to get it. Also, if you have chronic conditions like diabetes or cancer or some of the skin diseases, the risk for MRSA increases. Talk to us at Polo Labs to know more on MRSA.