MRSA i.e. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is a type of staph infection which is caused by the type of bacteria, which are immune against different antibiotics used for treating staph infections. Staph is a type of infection in which pus is formed in the skin or in the mucous membranes. This type of bacteria is mainly found in health care centers or nursing homes. This is the reason that majority of people who frequently visit nursing home or health care centers are highly prone to develop this infection.
The infection mainly starts with a swallowing which closely resembles painful small pimple or a spider bite. The infected area seem:
- Full of pus
- Lightly warm on touch
- Followed by fever
If not identified or treated on time then it can turn into a painful abscesses, which can treated only by performing surgery. In most of the cases the bacterial infection is limited only to the skin but in some rare cases the bacteria can go deep inside the body leading to fatal infections in bones, lungs, bloodstreams, joints and heart valves.
How Does MRSA Start?
MRSA does not occur in one day, instead; it is an outcome of decades of use of antibiotics. People frequently take antibiotics for treating cold, fever or any other infection but even after appropriate use antibiotics fail to kill all the targeted bacteria. Hence, germ or bacteria that survive these antibiotics soon become resistance to other antibiotic also. (1)
There are various different types of staph bacteria known. The bacteria mainly targets the skin or the nose area of almost one fourth of the population. The bacteria is of no harm unless it reaches the body through a cut or a wound. In this condition also it does not cause any major problem, instead; is limited to some minor skin problems. As peer the report generated by CDCP i.e. Center for Disease Control and Prevention only two percent of the population is actually infected with the staph bacteria commonly known as MRSA.
What Are MRSA Complications?
The complications associated with MRSA infection are higher compared to other infections because bacteria causing this infection are resistant to antibiotics and are difficult to treat. This further leads in spreading the infection and making it even fatal at times. This infection can affect the following:
- Lungs
- Heart valves
- Joints
- Bloodstream
- Bones
MRSA Diagnosis
For diagnosing MRSA, doctors perform tests on tissue sample and nasal sections of the patient. The sample is then placed in a dish full of ingredients suitable for bacterial growth. This process takes minimum of 2 days of time for proper bacterial growth. However, these days many new tests have come that can successfully detect existence of staph bacteria in just few hours. This way the diagnoses process has become quick and as the problem is identified early the treatment process can also be initiated early.
MRSA Treatment
It is true that bacteria causing both health care associated as well as community associated MRSA infection are prone to antibiotics but there is another fact, which cannot be overlooked is that they do respond to some specific type of antibiotics. In fact, in some cases the use of antibiotics is not even necessary.
After identifying the symptoms one must immediately visit their family doctor or general physician for checkup. After examination the physician then refers the patient to a specialist (based on the infected organ). For instance, is skin is infected then they refer the patient to a dermatologist and for heart to cardiologist.
Prepare For Appointment
Before going for the appointment, one need to do a bit of homework by listing down the following details:
- Details related to the experienced symptoms and from how long the symptoms are visible
- Details of the past medical problems or medical history
- Details of family medical history (include parents and siblings)
- Details of medicines prescribed for other health problems
- Timely detection of the problem helps in effective treatment.
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