M.R.S.A or mersa?

[Pepper The Cat]

I am taking an informal poll - just for my own curiostiy.

Do you pronounce MRSA (part 1) as

a) M. R. S. A. ( each letter pronounced on its own)

or

b) mersa.

And (part 2)

Are you

A) Canadian

or

B) American.

The reason I ask is that I have only heard it as M.R.S.A - yet in several instance involving Americans I've heard it as mersa. So I am curious to see if this is a regional thing, a country thing, or something else altogether!

[sasha1224]

Most of the time Mersa, sometimes MRSA. American. Practiced two regions, Midwest and Southwest. It seems I heard Mersa more in MW and MRSA more SW. May be from higher ratios of foreign nurses. Ireland and Australia have chimed in, was curious about the British?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

m.r.s.a. american

interestingly enough, when i visited a local jail -- as part of my civic duty which is another story altogether -- the staff there kept referring to "inmates with mersa." they had no idea that the m.r.s.a. bug they're read about in reader's digest had anything at all to do with "mersa". i sent a couple of them scrambling for "google" or the infirmary to check it out.

[PedsAtHeart, LPN]

Most often I use MRSA, but at times I call it "marsa" not mersa. I am American and live here in Oklahoma. Was kind of shocked the first time I heard someone call it "mersa". I wanted to tell her she was pronouncing it wrong... But since I have heard it quite a lot each way.

[KatyAtlanta]

Most at my facility say, "mersa", but we always write. "M.R.S.A" (American)

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

interestingly enough, when i visited a local jail -- as part of my civic duty which is another story altogether -- the staff there kept referring to "inmates with mersa." they had no idea that the m.r.s.a. bug they're read about in reader's digest had anything at all to do with "mersa". i sent a couple of them scrambling for "google" or the infirmary to check it out.

that's a little scary

[McBx3]

We slapped her on the back of the head, reminded her she was Canadian and she never did it again.

[McBx3]

Mersa

USA

[Mike A. Fungin RN]

M.R.S.A., American.

[SWS RN, ASN, RN]

Just to clarify

When speaking we usually say mersa-but when charting we ALWAYS write M.R.S.A.

USA-South Florida

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

MRSA - America

This is what we were taught in school and I never heard "mersa" until I was out in the workplace.

[KB24]

Mersa/American.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I wanted to edit to add: the nurses I work with don't say "mersa", they pronounce it "marsa".

This made me think of the Brady Bunch....."marsa, marsa MARSA!" Sorry, OT, back to regularly scheduled programming.