Skin Infections and MRSA

2) Who Gets Staph or MRSA Infections?

The majority of MRSA infections occur among people in hospitals or other healthcare settings - however - it is becoming more common in the community setting. MRSA can be categorized according to where the infection was acquired: Hospital-Acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA) or Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA).

Hospital-Acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA)
Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems. These hospital and healthcare associated staph infections include surgical wound infections, urinary tract infections, bloodstream infections, and pneumonia.

A study published in 2005 found that nearly 1 percent of all hospital in-patient stays, or 292,045 per year, were associated with S. aureus infection. The study reviewed nearly 14 million patient discharge diagnoses from 2000 and 2001. People with diagnoses of S. aureus infection, when compared with those without the infection, had about three times the length of stay, three times the total cost, and five times the risk of in-hospital death. Notably, the S. aureus infections in this hospital study resulted in 14,000 deaths.

Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA)
Staph and MRSA can also cause illness in persons outside of hospitals and healthcare facilities. MRSA infections that are acquired by persons who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are know as CA-MRSA infections. CA-MRSA has only been known since the 1990s. Staph or MRSA infections in the community are usually manifested as skin infections, such as pimples and boils, and occur in otherwise healthy people. However, CA-MRSA infections can develop into more invasive, life-threatening infections. CA-MRSA is occurring with increasing frequency in the United States and around the world and tends to occur in conditions where people are in close physical contact, such as athletes involved in close-contact sports, soldiers kept in close quarters, men who have sex with men, inmates, childcare workers, and residents of long-term care facilities.

CA-MRSA is of great concern to public health professionals because of who it can affect. Unlike the hospital sources, which usually can be traced to a specific exposure, the origin of CA-MRSA infection can be elusive. CA-MRSA skin infections are known to spread in crowded settings, in situations where there is close skin-to-skin contact, when personal items such as towels, razors, and sporting equipment is shared, when personal hygiene is compromised, and when healthcare is limited.

Outbreaks of CA-MRSA have involved bacterial strains with specific microbiologic and genetic differences from traditional HA-MRSA strains, and these differences suggest that community strains might spread more easily from person to person than HA-MRSA. While CA-MRSA is resistant to penicillin and methicillin, they can still be treated with other common-use antibiotics.

CA-MRSA most often enters the body through a cut or scrape and appears in the form of a skin or soft tissue infection, such as a boil or abscess. The involved site is red, swollen, and painful and is often mistaken for a spider bite. Though rare, CA-MRSA can develop into more serious invasive infections, such as bloodstream infections or pneumonia, leading to a variety of other symptoms including shortness of breath, fever, chills, and death. CA-MRSA can be particularly dangerous in children because their immune systems are not fully developed.

You should pay attention to minor skin problems - pimples, insect bites, cuts, and scrapes - especially in children. If the wound appears to be infected, see a healthcare provider.

Researchers continue to study information about these cases in an attempt to determine why certain groups of people become ill when exposed to these strains. Researchers also continue to try to understand why high-incidence areas may appear. For example, for unknown reasons, severe outbreaks have occurred in Alaska, Georgia, and Louisiana.

If you think you have a staph or MRSA infection, see your healthcare provider.

1) What is S. aureus and MRSA

2) Who Gets it?

3) What's it Look Like?

4) Who's at Increased Risk?

5) Diagnosis

6) Treatment

7) Prevention

8) Can I Get a Staph or MRSA Infection at a Health Club?

9) History of S. aureus and MRSA

10) Common Skin Infections

References:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
www.cdc.gov/
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
www3.niaid.nih.gov/