When You Have MRSA - booklet (English) Skin Infections from MRSA - fact sheet (Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, English, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese)   Living with MRSA - booklet (Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, English, Korean, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese) Be a Germ-Buster...Wash Your Hands! - poster (Arabic, Bengali, Cambodian, Chinese, English, Hindi, Korean, Nepalese, Russian, Spanish, Uk

MRSA is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a potentially dangerous type of staph bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics and may cause skin and other infections. You can get MRSA through direct contact with an infected person or by sharing personal items, such as towels or razors that have touched infected skin.

Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities who have weakened immune systems. MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as community-associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

Red Swollen Painful Warm to the touch Full of pus or other drainage Accompanied by a fever

MRSA is bacteria that is resistant to many treatments and can cause very serious and life-threatening infections. MRSA bacteria can be spread from person to person, and up to 5% of the population are carriers with these bacteria, but don’t show signs of infection.

common treatments will not stop the infection.

MSSA. Methicillin-Sensitive Staph Aureus is a common type of Staph that is vulnerable to the methicillin class of antibiotics and therefore easier to treat. This “common Staph” infection is often seen on bacterial culture test results. VRSA. Short for Vancomycin-Resistant Staph Aureus, this rare type of Staph has become immune to a common “last resort” antibiotic called vancomycin. VISA. Vancomycin-Intermediate Staph Aureus is similar to VRSA, but the bacteria are only partially resistant to the vancomycin. ORSA. Another name for MRSA, Oxacillin-Resistant Staph aureus, as the name suggests, is resistant to Oxacillin, an antibiotic of the same class as methicillin. CA-MRSA. These are strains of MRSA found in community and public places. These strains tend to cause skin infections and are often easier to treat with antibiotics. However, CA-MRSA often strikes young and otherwise healthy people and can be deadly in some cases. HA-MRSA. These are strains of MRSA found in hospitals and other healthcare settings. As you’ll see further below, MRSA first got started in hospitals. Healthcare-associated MRSA often causes internal infections and can be more challenging to treat. LA-MRSA. There are strains of MRSA associated with livestock and feed animals. These strains have also be found on livestock caretakers. Livestock-associated MRSA is a new area of study. MRSA has also been found in our food supply: conventionally raised pork, beef and chicken.