MRSA Staph Infection
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus auereus is a particular strain of Staph infection that many researchers have recently dubbed the “superbug.” This nickname is justified, for MRSA has certainly wreaked havoc in both the medical world and the rest of the community. Staph infections are caused by staph bacteria. These bacteria are, in fact, extremely common, and found in over a quarter of adults.
They typically reside on the skin or inside the nose, and for most people, are easily combated by the immune system. They are more dangerous if picked up through contact with open skin, but even then will just manifest in the form of pimples on the skin. Staph (or staff) bacteria are most dangerous to children and older adults who are less resistant to the staph bacteria. When staph bacteria attack a weaker immune system, they will excrete a compound made up of amino acids which explodes important immune cells. This in turn leads to severe symptoms.
Staph infections are hazardous enough without the distinction of being Methicillin-resistant (which is a fancy way of saying that they cannot be cured with anti-biotics). They occur as a result of Staph bacteria invading the body and undermining an already weak immune system. Symptoms usually appear first on the skin, with tiny red bumps that are initially mistaken as pimples or even spider bites. As the infection grows more severe, the bumps turn into painful pustules that can only be taken care of through surgical drainage.
If not drained, the MRSA will progress beyond a simple skin condition and move into the body itself. This is when it truly becomes serious, because the infection can be fatal if it moves to the inner organs. In more susceptible victims such as young children, elderly adults and those already afflicted with illness, the infection has an extremely high mortality rate.
With regular staph infections, treatment will typically include antibiotics such as methicillin and penicillin. Unfortunately, MRSA infections feature bacteria that have developed a powerful resistance to these antibiotics. Treatment instead relies on newer, more powerful, and more dangerous antibiotics, which are much less reliable and do not always (or even a majority of the time) keep the victim safe from death. Treatment has effectively turned into a race between medical researchers developing newer and more powerful antibiotics, and new strains of MRSA that quickly grow resistant to even the most powerful treatments. Because the bacteria still have the upper hand on the antibiotics, the best way to treat this infection is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. This can be done by promoting sanitary conditions, and having skin conditions checked out to make sure that they aren’t staph infections.
