What is MRSA Infection 

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection has acquired nightmarish proportions for healthcare workers these days. The infection is caused by a particularly mean strain of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria - which are called as "staph" in medical parlance.

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria are a normal part of the bacterial flora that colonize the nose and skin of healthy people. Staph bacteria normally not cause virulent infections and are often associated with skin infections like pimples and boils.

These staph infections can be treated by commonly available antibiotics. Over the years, staph bacteria have gradually become resistant to all, but the most lethal antibiotics. This condition is called as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. This infection is also dubbed as the "Superbug" infection owing to its ability to beat all antibiotics.

While staph bacteria normally colonize the nose and skin of people without causing any infections, the very young and the very old along with patients who have a weak immune system, are at a high risk of acquiring MRSA infection.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was first discovered in 1961 in the UK. MRSA was often confined to hospitals in the late 1980s, but in the 1990s, it began to proliferate in the community as well. Therefore MRSA is now sub-categorized as Community-Associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) or Hospital-Associated MRSA (HA-MRSA).

MRSA basically spreads by contact so people can get it if they touch a person who harbors the bacteria on their skin. MRSA is resistant to treatment with all of the beta-lactam family of antibiotics including methicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, oxacillin, and many other broad-spectrum antibiotics.

Only vancomycin seems to be effective against MRSA at the moment although researchers are feverishly working to discover newer antibiotics to get rid of this staph superbug.