MRSA Changes Our View of Infection

It used to be that if you contracted an infection, your doctor would prescribe an antibiotic and in 7 to 10 days you were well. In those days penicillin, amoxicillin and methicillin antibiotics ruled over infections; not so today.

One infection in particular is resistant to methicillin and most other antibiotics and that infection is MRSA. This is a highly contagious bacterium that can be spread by skin-to-skin contact or by respiratory droplets.

You can pick up the infection by touching an object like a book, newspaper or towel that someone used who had the infection. MRSA changes and adapts over time making it particularly difficult to treat.

Bacteria have the ability to learn and evolve over time so that antibiotics that were once effective against these bacteria are no longer useful in fighting them.

Especially vulnerable are those who have immune system failure, are having surgical or invasive procedures done, or the elderly. Another group who are at risk are those who are malnourished, or live in unsanitary conditions, in crowded living arrangements or have poor hygiene.

Our hands are used to grab items, touch, scratch, reach out and work with others and objects. This is why we spread infection most often with our hands. It is also why proper hand-hygiene is the single most important tool we have in the fight against MRSA.

MRSA shows up in hospitals, nursing homes, and in residential facilities. It can also show up in individuals who have not been hospitalized or in other healthcare facilities.

Most of the time MRSA is harmless as it sits on our skin or is found in our nasal passage without causing illness. Those who carry the bacteria MRSA and show no symptoms of being ill are said to be colonized or carriers.

If you have the bacteria on your skin and have symptoms of disease like a fever or inflammation of tissue than you are said to be infected. The only time that MRSA becomes harmful is when it travels over our skin and gets into our body through an opening in our skin such as a cut or open wound. Then MRSA can travel through the bloodstream to any organ in our body.

Those who are carriers and work in health care facilities will probably be asked to wash with disinfectants such as chlorhexidine as a precaution from spreading MRSA to patients.

Patients who do contract MRSA can be treated with two expensive antibiotics by intravenous infusion. The antibiotics ar Vancomycin and Teicoplanin. Those who are diagnosed with MRSA must be admitted to the hospital and treated with antibiotics.

Infections are not as casually viewed as they once were due to the fact that they are not so easily treated and can be life-threatening. MRSA has changed the way healthcare professionals and the public view infections.

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Kim is a Registered Nurse working and living in the UK. She has been nursing for nearly 35 years and now works as a Back Care Advisor. 

Source: http://www.nursing-hints.com

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