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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here
• Diagnosis and Tests
• Prevention and Risk Factors

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• Related Issues
• Specifics

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Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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Summary

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. It causes a staph infection (pronounced "staff infection") that is resistant to several common antibiotics. There are two types of infection. Hospital-associated MRSA happens to people in health care settings. Community-associated MRSA happens to people who have close skin-to-skin contact with others, such as athletes involved in football and wrestling.

Infection control is key to stopping MRSA in hospitals. To prevent community-associated MRSA:

• Practice good hygiene
• Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed
• Avoid contact with other people's wounds or bandages
• Avoid sharing personal items, such as towels, washcloths, razors, or clothes
• Wash soiled sheets, towels, and clothes in hot water with bleach and dry in a hot dryer

If a wound appears to be infected, see a health care provider. Treatments may include draining the infection and antibiotics.

Start Here

• Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Basics (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• MRSA (VisualDX)
• MRSA Infection (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Diagnosis and Tests

• MRSA Tests (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Nasal Swab (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

• Preventing Lice, Pinworms, and MRSA at the Pool (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) Also in Spanish
• Preventing Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Preventing Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Infections in Athletes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Related Issues

• Abscess (VisualDX)

Specifics

• Antimicrobial Resistance Threats (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases)
• Clinical Overview of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Healthcare Settings (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
• Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (Cystic Fibrosis Foundation)
• Seasonal Flu and Staph Infection (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Bacteriophage infection drives loss of β-lactam resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
• Article: Macrophage-mimicking nanodiscs for treating systemic infection caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
• Article: Monolaurin inhibits antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in patients with atopic dermatitis.
• MRSA -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Also in Spanish
• National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Children

• MRSA (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Teenagers

• MRSA (Nemours Foundation) Also in Spanish

Women

• Staphylococcus aureus (Staph infection) and Pregnancy (Organization of Teratology Information Specialists) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Staph infections in the hospital (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish