Staph/MRSA
Commonly referred to as a "staph" infection, the methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria and can be fatal. MRSA was discovered decades ago when a stubborn strain of staph emerged in hospitals. Medical professionals were baffled by this germ because it resisted all but the most potent drugs. Today's most popular form of staph is known as community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) and is responsible for many serious skin and soft tissue infections as well as a serious form of pneumonia.
A remarkable thirty-three percent of the population has staph bacteria living on their skin or in their nose. It is quite normal for those who have staph on their skin not to be sick. In those cases the person is "colonized" but not infected with MRSA. Although they are not sick, the bacteria are contagious and can therefore be passed on to others.
Symptoms
The staph germ is usually harmless and only causes minor skin problems even if it enters the body through an open wound. However, if sick and/or older individuals are exposed to the bacteria it can be particularly dangerous.
Symptoms of staph infections and MRSA include small red bumps that resemble pimples, boils, or spider bites. These can quickly turn into deep, painful abscesses that require surgical draining. Sometimes the bacteria remain confined to the skin. But they can also burrow deep into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.
Causes and Risk Factors
Here are some of the main reasons why staph is resistant to antibiotics:
- Excessive antibiotic use. MRSA is one of the many "suberbugs" that is the result of decades of unnecessary antibiotic use by humans. Antibiotics have been wrongly prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don't respond to these drugs, as well as for simple bacterial infections that would otherwise heal on their own.
- Antibiotics in food and water. Routine administering of antibiotics to beef cattle, pigs, and chickens can also cause staph because these antibiotics make their way into our food and water. It does not appear that giving antibiotics in the proper doses to animals that are sick produces resistant bacteria.
- Germ mutation. Even proper antibiotic usage contributes to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. Antibiotics don't destroy every germ they target, and germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others. Since bacteria mutate much more quickly than new drugs can be produced, some germs develop resistance to just about everything. That's why only a handful of drugs are now effective against most forms of staph.
In addition to community-associated MRSA, hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) is also a serious risk to certain individuals. There are several risk factors for HA-MRSA, including:
- Current or recent hospitalization. According to a 2007 report from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, approximately 1.2 million hospital patients are infected with MRSA each year in the United States. An added 423,000 are colonized with it.
- Residing in a long-term care facility. Even more so than in hospitals, MRSA is widespread in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes and hospices.
- Invasive devices. Those who are on dialysis, are catheterized, or have feeding tubes or other invasive devices are at a higher risk for infection.
- Recent antibiotic use. Treatment with fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin or levofloxacin) or cephalosporin antibiotics can increase an individual's susceptibility to HA-MRSA.
These are the main risk factors for community-acquired (CA) MRSA:
- Youth. Children and young adults maybe at a higher risk since their immune systems aren't fully developed and they have yet to build antibodies to common germs.
- Contact sport participation. Amateur and professional sports teams have seen a rise in CA-MRSA because the bacteria are able to spread easily through cuts and abrasions and skin-to-skin contact.
- Sharing towels or athletic equipment. Sharing razors, towels, uniforms or equipment can contribute to the spreading of CA-MRSA.
- Having a weakened immune system. People with weakened immune systems, including those living with HIV/AIDS, are more likely to develop severe CA-MRSA infections.
- Crowded or unsanitary dwellings. Outbreaks of CA-MRSA have occurred in military training camps and in American and European prisons.
- Interacting with health care workers. Anyone in close contact with health care workers is at increased risk of serious staph infections. The health system limits the spread of HA-MRSA by utilizing state-of-the-art disinfecting and sterilizing techniques on tools and equipment, but they are still unable to completely eliminate exposure and infection.