Is MRSA Contagious?
MRSA is very contagious under certain circumstances (when skin alterations or damage are present); spread occurs through person-to-person contact with a skin infection or even indirect contact, such as contact with a MRSA-infected person’s clothing or towels or even from benches in gyms. All MRSA needs to establish itself is a small break in the skin or mucosa. This is important because no breaks means no infection; for example, MRSA skin-infected or MRSA-colonized pregnant females seldom infect their fetus or infants. However, many activities such as kissing, saliva exchange, and sexual contact, although somewhat less likely to transfer MRSA to another, can cause infection if the skin or mucosa is damaged.
What is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)?
Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is a common skin bacterium. It is sometimes called staph, and it most often causes skin and soft tissue infections. Although S. aureus has been causing staph infections as long as humans have existed, MRSA has only been around since 1961. Methicillin was one of the first antibiotics used to treat S. aureus and other infections. S. aureus developed a gene mutation that allowed it to escape being killed by methicillin, so it became resistant to methicillin. That makes it harder to treat someone who gets an infection. Stronger, more expensive, or intravenous antibiotics may be needed.
Since the 1960s, MRSA has picked up more resistance to different antibiotics. Overuse of antibiotics has increased resistance in MRSA and other infectious bacteria because resistance genes (the genes that code for resistance) can be passed from bacteria to bacteria.
A deadly complication of MRSA is a deep infection, necrotizing fasciitis, which causes rapid spread and destruction of human tissues. Some but not all strains of MRSA are more likely to behave like “flesh-eating bacteria.” It is impossible to predict which MRSA infection will be “flesh-eating.”