Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffDifferent varieties of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, commonly called "staph," exist. Staph bacteria are normally found on the skin or in the nose of about one-third of the population. The bacteria are generally harmless unless they enter the body through a cut or other wound, and even then they usually cause only minor skin problems in healthy people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, less than 2 percent of the population carries the type of staph bacteria known as MRSA.
Antibiotic resistance
MRSA is the result of decades of often unnecessary antibiotic use. For years, antibiotics have been prescribed for colds, flu and other viral infections that don't respond to these drugs. Even when antibiotics are used appropriately, they contribute to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria because they don't destroy every germ they target. Bacteria live on an evolutionary fast track, so germs that survive treatment with one antibiotic soon learn to resist others.
-
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/mrsa/index.html. Accessed July 17, 2012.
- Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/antimicrobialresistance/examples/mrsa/Pages/default.aspx. Accessed July 18, 2012.
- Wolff K, et al. Fitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine.7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2008. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=505. Accessed July 17, 2012.
- Longo DL, et al. Harrison's Online. 18th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2012. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=4. Accessed July 17, 2012.
- Understanding antimicrobial (drug) resistance. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/antimicrobialresistance/understanding/Pages/default.asp. Accessed July 18, 2012.
- Anderson DJ. Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed July 18, 2012.
- Lowy FD. Treatment of invasive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed July 18, 2012.
- Harris A. Prevention and control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in adults. http://www.uptodate.com/index. Accessed July 18, 2012.
Find Mayo Clinic on