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# 79 / 2008-03-08 MRSA Infections in prisons, schools, day cares, and hospitals MRSA, called the "superbug" is resistant to many antibiotics. MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a type of staph infection that is resistant to commonly used antibiotics. MRSA often appears as a pimple or boil that can be red, swollen, and painful. The lesion may also have pus or other drainage. Draining the lesion in the doctor's office may be the only treatment needed for localized skin infections, but doctors may also treat skin infections with oral antibiotics that are not resisted by MRSA. Other skin rashes or conditions may be mistaken for MRSA. A spider bite, a boil or pimple, or any red, warm, and swollen skin lesion may have the same appearance as a MRSA skin infection. Your health care provider will be able to run lab tests to see if you have MRSA. If you have an infection on the skin, your doctor should swab a sample of the infected area to test for MRSA. Health-care-associated MRSA can occur as surgical wound infections, bloodstream infections, and pneumonia. These life-threatening invasive infections are resistant to many, but not all, antibiotics. There are more and more reports that whole floors of hospitals are full of MRSA cases. Community-associated skin infections are typically mild in nature, but they can become life-threatening and are becoming more increasingly common. Outbreaks have been reported among schools, day care centers, prisons, and among military recruits.
Risk factors associated with the spread of MRSA include: [This brings to light a particularly risky practice by TDCJ. It has been reported that the laundrys, in the prisons, stuff the washing machines so full that the center of the loads come out of the machine dry, not even washed or touched by water.]
Some of the best ways to keep from getting or spreading the infection include: Late last year, the Center for Disease Control issued guidelines designed to reduce the spread of multidrug-resistant bugs in the nation's hospitals and other health care settings. [see the guidelines here, 74 pages, pdf download] Patients or patient advocates should ask health care providers what is being done in the hospital to prevent MRSA and other types of hospital-acquired infections. A comprehensive approach is needed, and every health care facility, prison, and day care should have a program in place. The goal should be to get these infection rates down.
To learn more about MRSA infection and its causes, read more on Unde
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