Mrsa Detection & Treatment

Detecting MRSA

• Doctors diagnose MRSAImage by Fotolia.com, courtesy of Emmanuel MARZIN
  
  Medical personnel who suspect they have found MRSA in a patient look for specific signs. One sign is a reddish lesion that resembles a boil. The infection begins to "weep" pus or other fluid.
  
  

MRSA Symptoms

• Medical technician preparing to inject antibiotic into IV fluidImage by Fotolia.com, courtesy of Lisa Eastman
  
  Symptoms begin as small, red bumps on the skin or an infection of the skin/fat. Other manifestations of MRSA are boils, abscesses, carbuncles, impetigo or a sty--infected eyelid gland.
  
  

MRSA Diagnosis

• Medical personnel will take a sample of skin or pus to test for the MRSA bacterium (staphylococcus aureus). The sample is then grown in a Petri dish.
  
  

MRSA Treatment

• The patient who has MRSA for the first time has the wound/abscess incised and drained. This is only for mild infections. If it requires antibiotics, treatment should be guided by the "susceptibility profile" indicated during testing.
  
  

Drug Resistance

• Resistance to antibiotics develops quickly especially when patients don't take the full course of medication. A new strain of MRSA is now resistant to Vancomycin.