Don't understand MRSA

[nur26se]

I have read about MRSA and did some googling but I am still confused.

What is the big deal about MRSA. My understanding is that MRSA is an infection that is hard to treat because of its resistance to antibiotics. So can MRSA be treated. Is MRSA scary because its harder to treat?

If MRSA is on the rise then how come we don't screen for it. How do we tell if someone has MRSA. It seems to me that more people have MRSA then they are aware of it.

Is the only way I can get MRSA is through direct contact with the organism and then the organism has to enter my skin through a wound or can I breathe it in. I don't understand how MRSA can be found in the sputum or in another area. So does MRSA just occur in one area can it spread.??

What if i do have MRSA, how will my life be affected. Can you still be a nurse..

So confused..please help

[RN007]

See if this link to CDC helps:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/aip/research/mrsa.html

[gr8rnpjt, RN]

Here is what is scary. Staph aureus started as an organism that was only picked up in the hospital. It is now resistant to methcillin, the agent of choice to kill S.A. bacteria. Now we have to use the "big guns" to combat the organism. Now, people who are not in contact with hospitals or people in hospitals are now coming down with MRSA (community acquired) This has happened very quickly. How long will we be able to combat MRSA with IV vancomycin and that po antibiotic (forget name) before MRSA becomes vancomycin resistant? that is scary. also, people in prisons, high school locker rooms, military, are now coming down with MRSA infections and passing it around. My high school and the high school my children go to have both come down with community acquired outbreaks of MRSA. it is hard to get rid of, and easily spread. my daughter caught a skin infection with abscesses from her BIL with MRSA pneumonia on a visit home at Christmastime. IT is crazy-dangerous in my opinion, and that is scary to me.

[peds4now, RN]

Just a little point. Many people, and many healthcare workers, are colonized with MRSA, just as most people have non methicillin-resistant SA on their skin. This does not mean you are infected with it. It does not mean you are sick or anything bad (it may mean you can't work in NICU). It is only when this (these?) strains of S. aureus grow in a wound or sputum or urine and cause signs and symptoms of infection that there is a problem. I personally would like a LOT more education on things like this, and on standard precautions, for myself and my coworkers. I see people donning gloves to go into non-isolation rooms to TALK to the patients where I work! It is crazy! Lack of understanding and education leads to overprotecting oneself and isolating patients unnecessarily. I'm going to visit the above link to get more educated.