MRSA is the abbreviated form of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus i.e. particular type of staph bacteria or germ, which usually show huge resistant to or you cannot kill it with different types or forms of antibiotic treatments. Most of the S. aureus are susceptible to methicillin, but in some cases, MRSA causes life-threatening or invasive infections in patients. As it is resistant to few of the common antibiotic medicines, individuals may face difficulty during their treatment phase or their condition becomes worse in case of any delay in the treatment.
How Is MRSA Infection Diagnosed?
Collection of S. aureus Sample– With the aim to diagnose the problem of MRSA, doctors or pathologists collect a sample of S. aureus from the site of the infection and send the same to any microbiology lab for further testing. For this, doctors collect the pus sample from one’s blood, wound or urine to send to any microbiology lab. In case they found S. aureus, organism requires further tests to determine the type of antibiotic effective for MRSA treatment.(1)
Checking of a Specific Tissue Sample– Even doctors diagnose the problem of MRSA by checking a specific tissue sample or various nasal secretions in case of identifying any of the drug-resistant bacteria.
Placing the Collected Sample in a Nutrients’ Dish– Latest diagnostic procedures also involve sending the collected sample to nearby lab and placing it in a dish consisting of nutrients, which encourage the growth of bacteria i.e. specific culture. The bacteria in this case require about 48 hours period to grow. However, with the advancement of medical sector, there are numbers of tests, which are able to detect the DNA staph within only few hours and are gaining popularity largely across the world. In this way, doctors will decide about the right treatment regimen for any patient in relatively less time after they conduct an official diagnosis.
Biopsy Test to Detect/Identify Deep Infections– If any patient experiences deep infection, he or she requires biopsy test i.e. removal of a specific piece of tissue. Now, if S. aureus isolates or grows on any petri plate, the respective bacteria will expose to different types of antibiotics, including the commonly used antibiotic named methicillin. When methicillin remains within the culture, doctors refer the term as MRSA and diagnose that the patient has MRSA infection.
Screening of Patients to Avoid Infection– A few of the hospitals screen their patients for carrying MRSA, so that patients can easily take the necessary precautions to spread MRSA. The procedure in this case is same i.e. swabbing the patient’s skin or collecting sample from his/her nose. The tests mainly help in distinguishing MRSA infections from any other skin change, which usually appear similar to S. aureus infection like Lyme disease infection and spider bites.
Rapid Screening Tests to Detect PCR i.e. Polymerase Chain Reaction– Depending on the condition of any patient and his/her stay for numbers of hours in a hospital, doctors recommend for rapid screening tests. These tests are able to detect PCR i.e. Polymerase Chain Reaction present in the blood sample in less possible span of time i.e. within only 2 to 3 hours period.
The test thus determines whether the genetic material belongs to MRSA or any other less resistant type of staph bacteria. Even hospitals may start with their necessary precautions as early as possible. Along with this, doctors tailor the antibiotics promptly and thereby, reduce unnecessary usage of antibiotics to reduce your resistance to antibiotics. However, screen tests alone are insufficient to diagnose any MRSA infection, as they fail to provide required details about antibiotic medicines, towards which specific type of strain is susceptible.
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