MRSA is an acronym for Methicilin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, which is an infectious bacterial disease that is resistant to many different antibiotics. There are two forms of MRSA: CA-MRSA, which stands for Community-Associated MRSA, and HA-MRSA, which stands for Health Care-Associated MRSA. CA-MRSA is a strain of MRSA that differs from the more studied HA-MRSA because it developed outside of the Health Care setting.
In recent years CA-MRSA has spread quickly across the United States and has become the most common cause of cultured skin infections. Both HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA strains can cause skin infections in jail and prison detainees, soldiers, Native Alaskans and Native Americans, inner-city children and athletes.
Common ways to contract the infection is through skin-to-skin contact, scrapes, cuts, and abrasions. Doctors suggest that sharing personal items like combs, brushes, makeup, cell phones, razors gym towels and other effects of this nature contribute to the spread of the infection and should be curtailed.
Common warning signs in the initial infection stage resemble sores, pimples, boils, spider bites, and excessive swelling around small cuts, scrapes or abrasions. As the MRSA infection progresses the infection worsens into abscesses, puss-filled blisters, or larger, more sensitive sores. Doctors and experts recommend that if you have any sores that will not heal or if those sores are full of pus, see your doctor quickly and ask for a staph infection test to be administered. You should not squeeze the sores or attempt to drain as this is one of several prominent ways to spread the infection. The pus in the sores carries a high concentration of the infection and should be treated with care and cleaned off of the skin or surface if the sore is accidentally squeezed or drained.
Effective cleaning methods include sanitizing the surface with alcohol and quaternary ammonium and decolonization by showering with chlorhexidine or hexachlorophene anti-septic soap from head to toe. Poor hygiene habits are a major contributor to the spread of MRSA, doctors and experts recommend washing your hands regularly, they also recommend that misuse or overuse of antibiotics during MRSA treatment can allow the bacteria to evolve into a new form that is more resistant to clinical drug treatments and that antibiotics should only be taken when necessary.
If you happen to live with someone who is MRSA infected, you are recommended to switch to a alcohol based soap and begin decolonization practices to lessen the chance of being infected.
