Why Is Staphylococci Important

Some germs that commonly live on the skin and in the nose are called staphylococcus or "staph" bacteria. Usually staph bacteria don't cause any harm. However, sometimes they get inside the body through a break in the skin and cause an infection. These infections are usually treated with antibiotics. When common antibiotics don't kill the staph bacteria, it means the bacteria have become resistant to those antibiotics. This type of staph is called MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or more commonly, MRSA, is an emerging infectious disease affecting many people worldwide. MRSA, in particular, is a very interesting disease because although many people can be carriers of it, it generally only affects those with a depressed immune system; this is why it is so prevalent in places like nursing homes and hospitals. It can be spread though surgeries, artificial joints, tubing, and skin-to-skin contact. Although there is not one specific treatment of this disease, there are ways to test what antibiotics work best and sometimes antibiotics aren’t even necessary.

The Staphylococcus aureus bacteria belongs to the Staphylococcaceae family. It is small, round shaped, and non-motile. Staphylococcus aureus stains gram positive and can often be found in small clusters (Mandal, 2010). It often forms chains and is a large contributor of soft tissue infections. It is of a yellow color, hence the name ?aureus? which comes from the Latin term ?aurum? for gold (Orenstein, n.d.). Staphylococcus aureus is found in a few spots on the human body, such as the nasal passage, the skin, the oral cavity, and even the gastrointestinal tract. Staphylococci and Streptococci are two different strands of the bacteria and are very hard to distinguish from one another. In order to tell the difference between them, without a microscope, a catalase test needs to be performed. The test is undergone by adding 3% hydrogen peroxide to both samples. Since Staphylococci are catalase positive, meaning they produce catalase, they will produce O? while the Streptococci will not because Streptococci are catalase negative (Todar, n.d.).

Staph are common bacteria that are denizens of the human body. It is perfectly fine to carry staph; a lot of healthy people hold it within their bodies without being infected by it. Furthermore, one third of the population has staph bacteria in their noses. However, staph can rapidly become quite a problem if it manages to enter the body, usually through a cut, and cause an infection. Staph is one of the most popular causes of skin infections in the U.S. Most infections are minor, not fatal, and don’t require special treatment, but some can be disastrously life-threatening, creating festering wounds or pneumonia.

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

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a spherical bacteria which is known to produce a cytotoxin called Panton-Valentine leucocidin (PLV) which destroys leukocytes, and kills tissue (Lina et al., 1999). Five percent of strains of Staphylococcus are known to produce the disease-causing toxin (Lina et al., 1999), but though the amount of PLV-producing strains is somewhat small, the strains which produce PLV are apparently resistant to vancomycin, an antibiotic commonly used to treat staph infections (CDC, 2002). The first recorded case of S. aureus resistance to vancomycin was a reduction in sensitivity to the antibiotic observed in Japan, and has since spread to the United States (CDC, 2002). The most common source of infection of these drug-resistant bacteria are actually in hospitals, wherein the patients are exposed to the bacteria and subsequently infected (CDC, 2002).

In today’s society it has become apparent that “antibiotic-resistant superbugs are the world’s greatest threat to humans now, and into the future. (UQ contact, 2015). In recent years’ bacteria and superbugs have adapted to resist multiple antibiotics including the last line drugs, causing large concern among the medical industry. Staphylococcus aureus, otherwise known as golden staph is a fine example of an antibiotic resistant superbug. Golden staph is becoming more excessively resistant to the most powerful of antibiotics, due to the excessive use of antibiotics the bacteria has mutated drug resistant strains, causing havoc among Australian hospitals.

The purpose of this experiment was to isolate and identify an unknown Staphylococcus species based on its morphological and biochemical profile (Alachi, 2006). The Staphylococcus genus consists of Gram-Positive bacteria, arranged in grape-like clusters. These species are common residents of the skin and mucous membranes of humans and animals. Majority of Staphylococci are catalase-positive, oxidase negative, aerobic and facultatively anaerobic, and non-motile. They are considered opportunistic pathogens and cause roughly 80% of suppurative skin diseases (e.g., boils). Many Staphylococci

Staphylococcus aureus is a cluster bacterium that can be found on the skin of around 25% of healthy adults. This bacterium is growing everyday all over the world and many people have no idea they are even carriers. “Staphylococcus aureus is present in the nose of adults (temporarily in 60% and permanently in 20 to 30%) and sometimes on the skin” (Levison). This bacterium has the ability to cause skin infection and sometimes may lead to severe life threatening diseases. There are several different strains of staphylococcus and depending on the severity of the infection is how a health care provider decides the treatment most efficient. Impetigo is more common in children, but adults still have the chance of getting this skin condition. Toxic Shock Syndrome is also associated with S. aureus and is found in at least 50% of the cases to date. S. aureus can display a variety of symptoms and all vary with the disease at hand. Symptoms can range from a boil on the skin or in the nose to skin rashes. More severe symptoms can be carbuncles and infection of the blood (sepsis).Staphylococcus aureus is an ugly bacterium; that can lead to several diseases, such as Toxic Shock Syndrome and Impetigo. S. aureus has multiple symptoms and is treated with a variety of antibiotics.

When penicillin was released to the public in 1944, it was a miracle drug. Infections that had been killers were suddenly treatable. Doctors recommended it generously, both for illnesses that needed it and illnesses that didn’t. Before long, however, it took much stronger doses to see penicillin’s effects. When the antibiotic arms race began in 1944, most physicians assumed that new antibiotics would be discovered or created to keep up with the evolving resistance in bacteria, but the bacteria are constantly evolving new defenses and doctors are starting to run low on antibiotic ammunition. MRSA, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is one of many types of bacteria

Before the turn of the 21st century, physicians across the country were realizing that the possibility of being able to treat and cure virtually any microbial infection with the use of a single or a combination of antimicrobial medications was becoming more and more of a challenge. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, reports of pathogenic resistance to even the most potent antimicrobial medications of the time were being sent to the Centers for Disease Control. Among even the most dangerous pathogens that have developed and are developing drug resistance to one or many antimicrobials, Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is perhaps a case in which the world is most familiar and of the greatest concern within the medical community due to its natural virulence-its ability to cause a multitude of life-threatening infections, and its above average ability to combat and adapt to a vast array of environmental conditions.

Staphylococcus aureus is a gram positive cocci that forms grape like clusters, produces catalase, has a peptidoglycan and teichoic acid cell wall, and has a G + C content of DNA ranging from 30-40 mol%. An estimated 20% of the human population is long-term carriers of S. aureus, appearing in the nares of the nasal passages and also part of the natural skin flora which is the most common species of Staphylococcus to cause Staph infections. S. aureus is a successful pathogen due to a combination of nasal carriage and bacterial immuno-evasive strategies. S. aureus can cause minor skin infections, pimples, impetigo, boils or furuncles, cellulitis, folliculitis, carbuncles, scalded skin syndrome, and abscesses. Life-threatening diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, toxic shock syndrome, bacteremia, and sepsis are also caused by pathenogenic S. aureus. Its extent ranges from skin, soft tissue, respiratory, bone, joint, and endovascular to wound infections. Nosocomial infections and often postsurgical wound infections are a commonly caused by S. aureus. S. aureus is also a prominent cause of food poisoning in the US, and can be transmitted by different foods, including milk and

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been a type of multidrug resistant organism and staph bacteria known to cause serious infection that can lead to long hospitalizations and death. It can begin as a simple infection on skin or in the lungs, and if left untreated, can lead to traveling to the bloodstream and causing sepsis (“Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 2015”). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 33 percent of individuals carry the staph bacteria intranasally and two percent of individuals carry MRSA (“Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), 2015”). Even though this is a serious issue among healthcare settings all over the country, the number of people affected

So we make exceptions for someone passing away, and for extreme illness like cancer, or freshly broken leg etc . I saw her email, and haven’t answer her back yet because I need to ask Chris or Pam if this is an excusable being that it is Strep. I am the only one in MR today and yersyerday and do not want to speak out of turn to a member.

The release of two exotoxins from certain strains of S. aureus can lead to Staphylococcal scaled skin syndrome (SSSS), which is characterized by blistering skin. Invasion into the body can lead to more serious health problems including pneumonia (a frequent complication of influenza), mastitis, phlebitis (inflammation of the veins), meningitis, and urinary tract infections. If the bacterium is allowed to colonize even deeper tissues more serious conditions such as osteomyelitis and endocarditis may result. The most serious consequences of these deeper tissue infections occur when the bacterium invades the bloodstream leading to septic shock and possibly death.