What is used to treat MRSA?
Very few antibiotics are effective against the MRSA germ. The most commonly used one is vancomycin. The more it is used, the more chance there is that the MRSA germ will build up resistance to it, just like the MRSA germ has built up resistance to methicillin, oxacillin and nafcillin, the antibiotics that are most effective against non-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. What is the difference between infection and colonization? Infection means that there is visible activity of the body reacting to a germ: Fever, redness/swelling and/or pus at the site of the infection. Colonization means that the germ has taken up residence in or on the body, it has become part of the person’s normal germ make-up and is not currently causing infection. Persons who are colonized with MRSA have the potential to transmit the germ to other people, even though they themselves are not ill from it. How is MRSA transmitted? MRSA is passed from person to person by contact with someone who has MRSA. A person who i
