Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Superbugs spread to family members of recently hospitalized patients

Family members of patients recently discharged from the hospital may have a higher risk of getting an antibiotic-resistant infection, often called a superbug, even if the patient was not diagnosed with the same infection, ...

Health

Updated strategies for preventing resistant infections

Top infectious disease researchers have updated the guidelines to reduce the spread of resistant staph infections in hospital settings. The recommendations released June 29 emphasize basic hand hygiene, careful oversight ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Modeling how MRSA bacteria spread on the body can enhance treatments

MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant staph infection that can be deadly for those in hospital care or with weakened immune systems. Staphylococcus aureus bacteria live in the nose without necessarily producing any symptoms but ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Emerging superbug MRSA in humans found in urban hedgehogs in Finland

For the first time, a highly transmissible strain of the antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA currently plaguing hospitals in Northern Europe has been isolated from hedgehogs in Helsinki. The study by Venla Johansson and colleagues ...

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It is also called multidrug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA). MRSA is any strain of Staphylococcus aureus that has evolved resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and the cephalosporins. The development of such resistance does not cause the organism to be more intrinsically virulent than strains of Staphylococcus aureus that have no antibiotic resistance, but resistance does make MRSA infection more difficult to treat with standard types of antibiotics and thus more dangerous.

MRSA is especially troublesome in hospitals and nursing homes, where patients with open wounds, invasive devices, and weakened immune systems are at greater risk of infection than the general public.

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