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MRSA Infection
MRSA has been around for a long time, but it's getting more attention presently. Because MRSA is an acronym, and people hearing the pronunciation of it don't always realize what it stands for, they sometimes call it a mercer infection, or mersa.
To reduce your risk of a MRSA infection keep your body's immunity system strong. To do that avoid antibiotic use as much as possible, consider organic meats to avoid the antibiotics used in raising life stock, and wash your hands with soap and water (again, avoid the antibiotic soaps that are proliferating the market these days). But even with precautions you could contract a MRSA infection, so take care and pay attention to your body's health.
Being diagnosed with a MRSA (methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), a strain of staph, infection is scary and overwhelming. For one thing, you are feeling the effects of having an infection, and for another thing, hearing that your infection is resistant to certain antibiotics can be quite scary. A MRSA infection is nothing to ignore since it can be fatal.
Pay attention to your body so you can determine if you have a regular infection that can be easily treated with antibiotics, or if you may have a MRSA infection that needs special attention and treatment. Most MRSA infections occur in health care settings like hospitals, dialysis centers and nursing homes, though they can be found in the community at large too. Now you hear about HA-MRSA (health care-associated MRSA) and community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA).
Any type of staph infection normally begins as small red bumps on the body that may look like pimples, boils, or spider bites. The bumps can turn into abscesses that are very painful. These abscesses can be very deep and many need to be surgically drained to help them to heal. MRSA can stay on the skin or it can go deeper and cause life-threatening infections in the lungs, heart, joints, bones, or bloodstream. When the infection becomes more severe, other symptoms may follow.
An MRSA infection is a very aggressive infection. When it becomes more serious, then there may be other symptoms you need to be vigilant for. These symptoms include a rash, muscle aches, headache, a general malaise, chills, chest pain, fever, and more. When the MRSA infection progresses to this point, it's imperative you get medical attention immediately. The earlier treatment is begun, the more likely that the treatment will work.
Your physician may do some tests to see what type of infection you are suffering from, so you can be treated correctly. These may include a biopsy of the infected area, a blood culture, a urine culture, or a culture of the pus or drainage that is coming from the wound Which test your physician will administer will depend upon the severity of your symptoms and the type of symptoms that you have.
Treatment for a MRSA infection will vary, depending upon where the infection is and how severe it is. For a localized skin MRSA infection that is concentrated in an abscess, surgical draining will normally take care of the infection. For a more severe MRSA infection, your physician will recommend an antibiotic to help get rid of the infection. Due to the resistance of this infection to certain broad-spectrum of antibiotics, the physician will use antibiotics that are in a different family than methicillins. A very severe infection may dictate the need for hospitalization and more aggressive antibiotics.
A severe staph infection like MRSA can lead to other medical conditions and can possibly be fatal. That is why it is so important that you evaluate your symptoms, so that you can get medical attention as soon as possible if an MRSA infection is suspected.
