World MRSA Day | About MRSA

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About HA-MRSA

SYMPTOMS
MRSA infections can cause a broad range of symptoms depending on the part of the body that is infected. These include: surgical wounds, burns, catheter sites, eye, skin and blood. People who are colonized with MRSA may never develop an infection but have a 8-12 fold greater chance of doing so.

MRSA can cause urinary tract infections (UTI), septecemia, toxic shock and death. MRSA may also enter the bone marrow causing osteomyelitis and destroy hearts valves causing endocaritis. The sooner treatment is administered the better outcome.

People who are colonized with MRSA have no symptoms. They can carry MRSA in their nose and on their skin for many years. Staph skin infections often begin with an injury and develop into an infection. Symptoms are:
• Redness, warmth, swelling, tenderness of the skin and boils and blisters.
• Some people may have chills and fever, fell nauseous and acute pain.
• Staph infections are especially dangerous soe thosew who have had surgery and may have a cast
or heavy bandages that are not changed frequently.
• In serious cases, the patient may feel lethargic (fatigue) and headaches.

TRANSMISSION
MRSA can be acquired by direct contact with an infected or colonized person and contaminated objects. The lack of decontaminating surfaces and enviromental cleaning in healthcare facilities has lead to the spread of MRSA and lapses in infection control. Healthcare-acquired MRSA infections happen frequently in hospitals, rehab facilities, nursing homes and have been increasing in alarming rates for decades. Active detection isolation ( ADI) is imperative to reducing MRSA infections along with strict adherence to hand hygiene. Most infections are acquired by contact with a healthcare worker with contaminated hands or equipment. IV antibiotics such as vancomycin is administered. The infection can enter the bloodstream causing sepsis and 25% of patients with sepsis die.

Patients must insist that healthcare workers wash their hands first and then put on gloves before touching the patient. Healthcare workers must also wash their hands again before leaving the room. Insist upon it, it is your life.

MENTAL AND EMOTIONAL EFFECTS
The healthcare community has not addressed the psychological effects that a traumatic MRSA infection or subsequent chronic disease can have on a patient. The whole patient must be treated, not just the infection. Many MRSA survivors feel very angry about what has happened to them and they know that this was preventable. Many feel betrayed by their doctor and hospital as over half of MRSA patients are not told that they have MRSA and that

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