MRSA Bacteria
MRSA, or Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus bacteria (commonly referred to as “staph infection”) is a highly communicable strain of staph infection that is resistant to antibiotics-hence the “Methicillin Resistant” added to the name. Staphylococcus aureus, or staph bacteria, are often found on the skin or inside the noses of otherwise healthy people.
General staph bacteria causes several types of infection, ranging in severity from minor skin infections (such as the annoying but mild pimples associated with teenage acne) to more serious infections found in surgical wounds, the bloodstreams, and in those contracting pneumonia. Most types of staph can be treated with penicillin, but MRSA is resistant to all types of antibiotics called beta-lactams.
Beta-lacatams are extremely effective in treating staph strains other than MRSA. The most common beta-lactams include penicillin, methicillin, oxacillin and amoxocillin. The fact that MRSA is resistant to even the best-developed and strongest of antibiotics, when combined with the high communicability of the disease, makes the prospect of contracting MRSA particularly frightening.
So far, five main types of MRSA have been identified. They are most commonly categorized by the location in which they are spread and contracted. HA-MRSA, or Hospital-acquired MRSA, is, as indicated by the name, spread through medical facilities. This type of MRSA is the most resistant to antibiotics. It is usually spread through direct contact with health care professionals who carry the disease, or objects such as bandages or blankets that are infected with MRSA bacteria.
The other strain of MRSA is CA-MRSA, or community acquired MRSA. This type of MRSA is spread anywhere outside of the health-care world. CA-MRSA bacteria are somewhat less resistant to antibiotics, but are also more likely to be spread, due to lack of education and less sanitary conditions in the community at large.
Both CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA are often referred to as “Silent Terror Bombs” due to their lethal attacks on the immune system. These aggressive bacteria secrete peptides, or compounds made up of amino acids, which in turn cause normally strong immune cells, or neutrophils, to explode. This elimination of immune system cells undermines the human body’s best defense against other infections, in the same way that contracting HIV ruins the immune system and paves the way for AIDS.
MRSA may not be as severe as HIV, but it is much more communicable than HIV, which can only be spread through direct contact with body fluids as opposed to MRSA’s ability to spread through contact with skin and objects.
