Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus ( mrsa)

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
SEM micrograph of MRSA
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Bacteria
Phylum:	Firmicutes
Class:	Cocci
Order:	Bacillales
Family:	Staphylococcaceae
Genus:	Staphylococcus
Species:	S. aureus
Binomial name
Staphylococcus aureus Rosenbach 1884

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 ofStaphylococcus aureus that has developed resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, which include the penicillins (methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, etc.) and thecephalosporins. 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.

Contents   [hide]  1 Signs and symptoms 2 Risk factors 2.1 Hospital patients 2.2 Prison inmates 2.3 People in contact with live food-producing animals 2.4 Athletes 2.5 Children 3 Diagnosis 4 Genetics 4.1 SCCmec 4.2 Strains 5 Prevention 5.1 Screening programs 5.2 Surface sanitizing 5.3 Hand washing 5.4 Use of surgical respirator 5.5 Proper disposal of hospital gowns 5.6 Isolation 5.7 Restricting antibiotic use 5.8 Public health considerations 5.9 Decolonization 6 Treatment 7 History 7.1 US and UK 7.2 Worldwide 8 Research 8.1 Clinical 8.2 Pre-clinical 9 See also 10 References