Staphylococcus Aureua, or Staph, bacteria is present in about 30 percent of people, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). But this does not mean someone is infected.
Staph is most commonly found in the nose or outlying areas on the skin and can often live without harming its host, but it has become more threatening. Staph is the main cause for skin infections in the U.S., and it is becoming more resistant to treatment. Some signs of a staph infection are boils or sores on the skin, but it can also infect the bloodstream and internal organs.
Methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus Aureus, or MRSA, is a relatively new form of staph. It is resistant to most regularly perscribed antibiotics. These antibiotics are betalactums and include methicillin, oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin.
Treatment
The common way for treating MRSA is by going to a hospital and getting an intravenous antibiotic. This treatment method works most of the time, but there are some cases that are caught too late.Junior Beth Guarnieri's friend had MRSA. "She caught the infection too late, and she had some complications that ended up with her being a vegetable," she said.
Community facilities such as schools and hospitals have been and are continuing to sanitize buildings and are working to prevent infections.
Being in School and Staying Healthy
Two Wilkes-Barre area schools have had problems with the infection. After a series of outbreaks, the whole astro turf football field at Elmer L. Meyers high school was sanitized, as well as the GAR Memorial High School wrestling mats.MU has installed Purell instant hand sanitizer dispensers around campus. They are not only in bathrooms; they are in other areas like The Cougar's Den and the weight room in the Anderson Center. The health center has posted fliers informing students of ways to prevent the spreading of the disease.
The CDC recommends regular hand washing or sanitizing, keeping cuts covered and cleaning of any commonly touched materials. There is information on preventing staph in the student health center located in the Anderson Center.
Hospitals are taking great measures to prevent MRSA. Nurse's assistant Tara Post said MRSA is a "hospital disease," meaning it is commoonly picked up when someone goes to a hospital.
Contracting MRSA
Two ways of contracting the infection according to General Hospital in Wilkes-Barre are touch and droplet. Touch means someone can get it through physical contact with a patient, and droplet means someone can get it from droplets in the air, like from coughing."If they have touch, we only have to wear gloves and a gown when we go in the room, but if it is droplet, then we have to wear a mask too," said Post. A blood test can determine which of these the patient has.
MRSA infections can vary depending where it is contracted. The hospital-acquired type of MRSA is the most antibiotic resistant strain, according to the CDC. This is typically picked up by healthy patients that have not come in contact with anyone else that has been infected.
The other type of MRSA is the community associated or community acquired MRSA that is spread throughout communities by contact. This form is usually resistant to one or two types of antibiotics.
The CDC recommends seeing a doctor immediately if someone notices any unusual sores on the body or if someone believes they may have staph.
If students are concerned about staph or MRSA, they can contact the health center at extension 6276.
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