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More Americans die annually from invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections than from HIV/AIDS, H1N1 influenza and Parkinson's disease. MRSA infection is caused by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria called "staph." It's a strain of staph that's resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it.
Most MRSA infections occur in hospitals or other health care settings, such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. It's also known as health care-associated MRSA, or HA-MRSA. Older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at most risk of HA-MRSA. More recently, another type of MRSA has occurred among otherwise healthy people in the wider community. This form, community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA, is responsible for serious skin and soft tissue infections and for a serious form of pneumonia.
Staph skin infections, including MRSA, generally start as 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 penetrate into the body, causing potentially life-threatening infections in bones, joints, surgical wounds, the bloodstream, heart valves and lungs.
Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria, a type of germ commonly found on the skin or in the nose of even healthy individuals. Most of the time, these bacteria cause no problems or result in relatively minor skin infections.
But staph infections don't always remain skin-deep. In some circumstances, they may invade your bloodstream, urinary tract, lungs or heart.
Go to the doctor if you or your child has an area of red, irritated or painful skin; pus-filled blisters or fever. You may also want to consult your doctor if skin infections are being passed from one family member to another and/or two or more family members have skin infections at the same time.
Many people carry staph bacteria and never develop staph infections. If you have a staph infection, there's a good chance that it stemmed from bacteria you've been carrying around for some time.
These bacteria also can be transmitted from person to person. Because staph bacteria are so hardy, they can live on inanimate objects like pillowcases or towels long enough to transfer to the next person who touches them. Staph bacteria are able to survive drying, extremes of temperature and high levels of salt. Even cooking won't kill the toxins produced by staph bacteria, which is why they can cause food-borne illness.
These common-sense precautions can help lower your risk of developing staph infections:
Wash your hands. Careful hand washing is your best defense against germs. Scrub hands briskly for at least 15 to 30 seconds, then dry them with a disposable towel and use another towel to turn off the faucet. If your hands aren't visibly dirty, you can use a hand sanitizer containing at least 62 percent alcohol. These sanitizers are convenient and may actually kill more germs than soap and water do.
Keep wounds covered. Keep cuts and abrasions clean and covered with sterile, dry bandages until they heal. The pus from infected sores often contains staph bacteria, and keeping wounds covered will help keep the bacteria from spreading.
Reduce tampon risks. You can reduce your chances of getting toxic shock syndrome by changing your tampon frequently, at least every four to eight hours. Use the lowest absorbency tampon you can, and try to alternate using tampons and sanitary napkins whenever possible.
Keep personal items personal. Avoid sharing personal items such as towels, sheets, razors, clothing and athletic equipment. Staph infections can spread on objects, as well as from person to person. If you have a cut or sore, wash your towels and linens using detergent and hot water with bleach, and dry them in a hot dryer.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.nlm.nih.gov
http://pediatrics.about.com
http://www.webmd.com
https://health.google.com
Mc Ortega is the former publicist for the late Walter Payton, Coca-Cola and Dunkin’ Donuts. Ortega is a senior communications and messaging executive specializing in media relations, social media, program development and crisis communications. Also, Ortega is an avid traveler and international shopper. Ortega resides with her partner, Craig, dog, Fionne and extensive shoe collection. Ortega also enjoys jewelry design/production and flamenco dancing.
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