Public health experts weigh in on MRSA epidemic

• Considered a "silent epidemic" by some public health experts, antibiotic-resistant staph infections are a growing threat to public health.
• The medical name for the infection is methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.
• Because it is resistant to many antibiotics, MRSA can be very difficult to treat, resulting in major infections and even death.
• There are two major classifications of MRSA, depending on the route of infection: The more common one is hospital-acquired MRSA, in which patients are infected during medical treatment, and the other is community-acquired MRSA, in which patients are infected during their normal daily routines.
• The bacteria enter the body wherever they can find an opening, from minor cuts to inhalation through the mouth or nose.
• Testing positive for MRSA does not automatically mean that you are sick.
• Around 1 percent of the population is a MRSA carrier, meaning the carrier can spread the bacteria without necessarily becoming ill.
• MRSA is becoming a bigger problem both in hospitals and in the community.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reviewed the prevalence of MRSA in intensive care units and found a dramatic increase over time.
• Hospital-associated MRSA is generally more serious because it often occurs in people who have weakened immune systems because of age (very young or very old) or illness.
• These patients frequently acquire MRSA infections at surgical sites, where it can spread to the bloodstream and cause damage to such organs as the lungs and heart.
• The newer antibiotic vancomycin is often a current choice in treating MRSA, but the bacteria are now showing some signs of becoming resistant to this drug too.
• Bacteria generally start showing resistance fairly quickly to any medication that's designed to defeat them.