What is MRSA Infection and How Fearful of It Should We Be?

The MRSA Infection: It’s a bacterium.

Most bacteria, which are single-cell organisms and the earliest form of life that existed on Earth, perform essential and useful functions, like helping us digest food and “recycling” or breaking down dead organic material for reuse. There are too many bacteria on earth to count and equally too many species of bacteria to count. One group of researchers identified more than 4,000 species of bacteria growing in one gram of soil. Scientists express the number of bacteria present in our environment this way: the digit 5 followed by 30 zeros, or 5 x 10³⁰. Most bacteria live in the earth’s soil and subsoil below both land and sea.

MRSA Disease – MRSA Infection

A small percentage of bacteria cause disease, and staph bacteria are one kind of disease-carrying bacteria. The MRSA infection is caused by a staph, or staphylococcus, bacteria. There are over 30 different kinds of staphylococcus bacteria, and they are commonly found on the skin and in the nose and generally do not cause serious, if any, infections in healthy adults.

Infections from the toxins produced by the staph bacteria occur only when the skin is injured, allowing the bacteria to overwhelm the body’s natural defenses. Usually, these skin infections are minor. The problems start when the bacteria enter the bloodstream and vital organs, bones, and joints. Staphylococcus infections then become deadly—but very treatable with proper drainage of infected areas and antibiotic treatment.

Unless, that is, the staphylococcus bacteria have become antibiotic-resistant like MRSA bacteria have. The MRSA infection is caused by staph bacteria called Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. As the name indicates, these bacteria do not respond to the antibiotics used to treat staph infections, primarily the penicillins and the cephalosporins. In fact, MRSA bacteria actually thrive in the presence of these antibiotics. The bacteria’s resistance to these antibiotics makes MRSA infection very difficult to treat and thus deadly.

MRSA Treatment Antibiotics: Why Do Bacteria Become Resistant to Antibiotics?

Scientists believe there are three reasons:

1. The overuse of antibiotics, which causes bacteria not destroyed by the antibiotic to “learn” to adapt to the antibiotic, resulting in what we call a “super bug,” which is extremely difficult to destroy, like the MRSA infection.

2. The misuse of antibiotics to treat viruses, which never respond to antibiotics, and infections that don’t respond to the particular antibiotic prescribed, allowing bacteria to “learn” to adapt to the antibiotic.

3. The overuse antibacterial household products, which prevents children from being exposed to the common bacteria that would help them build their own immune systems against these bacteria.

How Are Antibiotic-resistant Infections Like MRSA Infection Treated?

In the United States, infections like MRSA infection are treated by administering antibiotics different from those to which the bacteria has become resistant. These antibiotics may or may not work. If just one bacterium resists the antibiotic, it will replicate, pass its resistance to its offspring, re-infect the victim, and make its way into the community.

How Fearful Should We Be of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria?

Very fearful.

• Each year, more than 2 million Americans contract bacterial infections that have developed resistance to multiple antibiotics, the most common of which is the MRSA infection,
• Each year, about 23,000 Americans die from antibiotic-resistant infections.
• The World Health Organization released this statement in an April 2014 report: “Without urgent, coordinated action by many stakeholders, the world is headed for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries which have been treatable for decades can once again kill . . . Unless we take significant actions to improve efforts to prevent infections and also change how we produce, prescribe and use antibiotics, the world will lose more and more of these global public health goods and the implications will be devastating.”
• The World Health Organization states in the same report that “people with MRSA are estimated to be 64% more likely to die than people with a non-resistant form of the infection” and that they also experience longer hospital stays and more intensive care.

So How Do We Stop Bacteria from Becoming Resistant to Antibiotics?

Essentially, says the World Health Organization, by “preventing infections from happening in the first place.”

• Avoid falling victim to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. Antibiotics should never be taken for viral illnesses, which do not respond to antibiotics, or for conditions that do not clearly require them. Ask your doctor if there is another course of action to cure your illness.
• Never save some of your antibiotic for the next time you get sick.
• Never share your antibiotic.
• When you take an antibiotic, make certain that you take the entire dosage and finish the treatment. Stopping the antibiotic too soon can encourage bacteria not yet destroyed to become resistant to the antibiotic, replicate, and pass on its resistance to its offspring and enter the community.
• Take an antibiotic that is as narrow-spectrum as possible, one that targets specific bacteria, in other words.
• Practice good hygiene, especially hand washing, to avoid spreading bacteria from one person or surface to another.
• Avoid using antibacterial or antimicrobial products unless instructed by a healthcare professional to do so. These products promote bacterial resistance to antibiotics and there is no evidence that they prevent the spread of infection better than non-antibacterial products.
• Call a professional like Advanced Bio Treatment to decontaminate a large area that has been exposed to bacteria, especially bacteria that causes MRSA infection, to insure that the area is correctly, safely, and thoroughly sanitized so that the bacteria cannot spread further into the community.

We are Advanced Bio Treatment. We are here for you 24 hours every day of the year. We provide emergency services and work with your insurance company. Should you need our services, please call us at 800-295-1684.