Staph Infection: What is MRSA?
What is a staph infection? What is MRSA? Staph, in layman’s terms, is shorthand for a kind of Gram-positive bacteria known as Staphylococcus (“bunch of grapes” in Greek). These bacteria are fairly limited in range–there are only 31 varieties in the genus, and most are harmless. One of the harmful, but most common, species is Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), which can infect open wounds, leading to toxic shock and death:
Did you know that 500,000 patients in American hospitals contract a staph infection every year? Or that staph infection is in the top four post-op complications?
By itself, a staph infection didn’t used to be serious. In 1943, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by watching it act against a staph colony in a petri dish. A few years later, by 1950 as much as 40% of hospital S. Aureus were resistant to penicillin. By 1960, 80% were. This is the precursor to the modern MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) problem.
MRSA is simply evolved S. Aureus. Over time, in hospital settings, this simple bacteria was exposed to all kinds of antibiotics. Over time, most of them died, but the survivors had a mutation that protected them, which they passed on to their children. Today (well, these numbers are from 2005) 31.8 out of every 100,000 Americans acquire an MRSA infection. This is 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths nationwide a year, 150% as many deaths as caused by AIDS.
References: Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA
| This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 9:39 pm and is tagged with mrsa methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, resistant staphylococcus aureus, mrsa infection, s aureus, alexander fleming, bunch of grapes, gram positive bacteria, american hospitals, open wounds, petri dish, toxic shock, kinds of antibiotics, hospital settings, layman, shorthand, precursor, genus, mutation, staph infection, deaths. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback. |
I had heard about hospitals being a breeding ground for staph infections. Makes me a little leery and more aware of whats going on in a hospital next I time I'm in one!