Mrsa Essay

You should always make sure that you wash your hands so that infections like MRSA do not spread.

There are several important steps in preventing the spread of MRSA: washing hands before and after patient contact, using gloves appropriately, covering any cuts on the hands, maintaining healthy hands, avoiding overcrowding in hospital departments, maintaining a clean environment, and prudent antibiotic prescribing (3). Hand washing is the most effective way to keep from spreading infections. The CDC recommends that you spend 20 seconds scrubbing your hands with soap while washing your hands (1). You can sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice all the way through also (1). If soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that is at least 60% alcohol (1). This should not be used as a first line of defense. Hand washing is always the best way to get rid of harmful bacterium. Gloves and gowns are another great way to create a barrier between you and the bacteria. Proper removal of gloves and gown are vitally important. If your gloves are contaminated with MRSA, and you remove them improperly, you have completely defeated the point of even putting the gloves on. Once a surface is contaminated with MRSA, it can live prolonged periods of time unless removed through cleaning (5). For contaminated surfaces, you would want to use a disinfectant. Choosing the proper disinfectant, along with following the directions of use on the packaging, will rid the surface form microbes. It is extremely important to follow the directions on the packaging of the disinfectant because each disinfectant is different. One may need you to keep the surface wet for 2 minutes, while the other requires the surface to be kept wet for 10 minutes. If the surface isn’t kept wet for the allotted time, the surface will not be disinfected and will continue to contaminate

Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections, it can cause serious infections such as bloodstream infection, pneumonia or bone infections. Though it can cause infections it is part of the normal human flora it is mostly found on the skin or in nasal cavities. It is a facultative anaerobic gram positive cocci, it is usually in pairs or clusters. The bacterium is also catalase positive, oxidase

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or more commonly, MRSA can be transmitted in two separate ways, therefore giving it two different names. One way it is spread is by way of hospitals, giving it the name health care-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA). Another way it is spread is through busy areas with a lot of crowding, therefore naming it community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA). MRSA is considered an emerging disease because the prevalence of the disease has increased over the past few decades.

Health care providers and visitors are required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) and follow strict hand hygiene procedures. Contaminated rooms, surfaces, and laundry items are properly disinfected to prevent the spread of MRSA. In addition to policy and procedures, patient teaching is also helpful for preventing exposure and spread of MRSA. As aforementioned earlier, hand hygiene is key to prevent exposer or transmission of the bacteria. To properly wash your hand effectively, first scrub hands rapidly for at least 15 seconds. Next, use a disposable towel to dry them and another towel to turn off the faucet. In addition, hand sanitizer that contains 62 percent or more of alcohol may be an adequate substitute when the individual does not have access to soap and water (Mayo Clinic Staff,

skin condition that staph is able to cause is cellulitis. It is more common in people who have a weakened immune system such as people who are immunocompromised, infants, and the elderly. Cellulitis is characterized by a red, warm patch on the skin paired with a fever. “The bacteria that cause cellulitis can spread rapidly, entering lymph nodes and your bloodstream. Recurrent episodes of cellulitis may cause chronic swelling of the affected limb” (Mayo, 2015). Cellulitis is spread extremely easily, and is a big issue within long term care facilities. The infection can be cured by antibiotics. However, there are cases reported stating that cellulitis is becoming resistant to some antibiotics. The doctor can order a culture to send to pathology.

MRSA is spread by contact, so for example, touching another person who has it on the skin, or by touching objects the bacteria has transferred to. These particular infections are frequent amongst those with weak immune systems and those in hospitals, nursing homes, care centers, etc., because the superbugs crop up around surgical wounds or invasive devices such as catheters or implanted feeding tubes. The

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a bacterium that is resistant to many available high- level beta-lactam antibiotics, which include penicillins, “antistaphylococcal” penicillins and cephalosporins. Staphyloccoci are the most important bacteria that cause disease in humans. MRSA is sometimes branded as a nosocomial infection as it usually plagues patients that are receiving treatment in a hospital. The skin is the most common site of infection, where MRSA can cause cellulitis, folliculitis, or boils in the skin, but can also commonly be found in the nose, underarm, groin, upper respiratory tract, intestine, vagina and rectal areas of the body. MRSA infections occur with there is a break in the skin that allows the Methicillin resistant

Carla, your post on community acquired MRSA infection, detection, and treatment of the condition is spot on. We all walk around with a variety of bacteria on our skin, especially healthcare workers. As healthcare professionals we are in constant contact with patients with various skin conditions including MRSA so it important to follow guidelines set by our institutions to limit the exposure to ourself and other patients. In addition, to the demographic that you mention in your post at risk for acquiring MRSA, younger non-exposed hospitalized patients are at risk as well.

Risk factors of CA-MRSA include: skin-to-skin contact with an infected person, loss of integrity allowing penetration of bacteria into the body, contact with contaminated items and surfaces, crowded living conditions, sharing personal items, poor hygiene, having a history of ectopic dermatitis, and exposure to family members or friends who work in a health care setting. Also, there are a number of risk factors for CA-MRSA among student athletes including: playing close contact sports, receiving a skin abrasion and trauma, a high BMI, participating in cosmetic body shaving, coming into contact with a draining lesion or is a carrier of MRSA, and sharing contaminated equipment (Alex & Letizia,

In the research, fourteen patients in Los Angeles contracted the MRSA necrotizing fasciitis strain. Most of the patients reported having some type of a preexisting condition, like hepatitis C or a history of intravenous

Most MRSA infections occur in people who have been in health care settings such as hospitals, and other places. It is also known as health-care-associated MRSA, which are typically associated with invasive procedures or devices such as surgeries, intravenous tubing or artificial joints. It can be spread by skin-to-skin contact, by a wider community- among healthy people, which often begins as a painful skin boil. People more at risk for examples are groups such as high school wrestlers, child care workers, and or people who live in crowded conditions.

The main hospital strains are already partially or fully resistant to the effects of commonly used antibiotics. Resistance is also emerging to last resort drugs like vancomycin. The more virulent community strains of MRSA are infiltrating hospitals while the more resistant hospital strain is leaking into the community. The history of MRSA as described in Superbug shows how quickly bacteria can evolve when we add a strong selective force like antibiotics. Around the world, species of bacteria are becoming “superbugs” that are resistant to conventional treatments. Pharmaceutical companies are cutting research on new antibiotics in favor of more profitable investments. We are quickly running out of options for treating multi-drug resistant bacteria. As we move toward a “post-antibiotic” world, there are valuable lessons to be found in the history of MRSA, one of the first superbugs. Students in Emerging Diseases should read Superbug to learn about the complex emergence of

As nurses, taking care of patients with MRSA can be seen in everyday practice. It can be seen in patients with sepsis from an infected wound, patients who have pneumonia, or patients who only have a colonization for it (“Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 2015”). Regardless if it’s colonization or an active infection, and the source of the infection, proper policies and procedures are in place to reduce the transmission of MRSA to other patients in the hospital or nursing home setting. This includes performing proper hand hygiene and standard precautions, as well as wearing protective gown and gloves when entering the patient’s room. It is very important to adhere to these policies and procedures and educate others on the importance of these policies and procedures to reduce the transmission of MRSA to others.

Life History and Characteristics: Staphylococcus aureus is a gram positive bacterium that is usually found in the nasal passages and on the skin of 15 to 40% of healthy humans, but can also survive in a wide variety of locations in the body. This bacterium is spread from person to person or to fomite by direct contact. Colonies of S. aureus appear in pairs, chains, or clusters. S. aureus is not an organism that is contained to one region of the world and is a universal health concern, specifically in the food handling industries.