Staph bacteria (including MRSA) are most often spread by close contact with infected people or the things they touch. It is not spread through the air.

Anybody can get MRSA, but MRSA infections are by far more common among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities. Less often, MRSA can be acquired in the community. It has been associated with recent antibiotic use, sharing contaminated items, having recurrent skin diseases, and living in crowded settings. Outbreaks of MRSA have been reported among participants in contact sports such as wrestling and rugby.

The main way that MRSA is spread is through direct skin-to-skin contact. Contact with contaminated surfaces, such as athletic equipment, mats, and shared personal items (e.g., towels) may contribute a small amount to the spread of MRSA. In very rare situations (e.g., pneumonia caused by MRSA), MRSA could be spread as airborne droplets into the environment. The risk of infection to others would be very low for infection, but the droplets could contaminate surfaces.

Because MRSA is almost always spread through direct skin-to-skin contact, you can prevent the spread of MRSA by practicing good personal hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and warm water. When soap and warm water are not available, use alcohol-based hand gel (at least 60% alcohol). Do not share personal items like towels, razors, water bottles, washcloths, clothing or uniforms. (DO NOT use gym clothes that have been collected in a lost and found box.) Practice and encourage good skin care.

Yes. MRSA can spread among other patients, who are often very sick with weak immune systems that may not be able to fight off infections. MRSA is almost always spread by physical contact, and not through the air. Hospitals usually take special steps to prevent the spread of MRSA from patient to patient. One of these steps may be to separate, or isolate, a patient with MRSA from other patients.

MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureusis) is a form of bacteria carried on human skin. Once seen only in hospitals and healthcare facilities, staph infections have been present in the general population for more than 15 years.

The most common way MRSA can be spread is when touching someone who is colonized or infected. Touching a surface, such as a hospital bed or table, which has the bacteria on it, can also spread MRSA.

Additional information is available through the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/ar_mrsa_ca_public.html

MRSA is usually transmitted by direct skin-to-skin contact or contact with shared items or surfaces that have come into contact with someone else's infection (e.g., towels, used bandages).

MRSA can be carried on the skin or in the nose without causing any disease, which is called colonization . Approximately 25-30% of the population is colonized in the nose with staph bacteria at any given time; however, the proportion colonized with MRSA is not known. The exact number of new cases of MRSA infections in Oregon is unknown but the number of cases of MRSA in general is increasing.

Symptoms of MRSA infection are, for the most part, not different from any other staph infection. MRSA may manifest as red, swollen, tender skin surrounding a cut or in the form of a large pimple (boil) and may include drainage of thick white pus. In more serious cases, the infection may cause difficulty breathing, fever and excessive tiredness. If a child develops these symptoms, a parent should contact a doctor.

Colonization of the skin or nose usually is not a reason for antibiotic treatment except in special circumstances. Small, localized skin pimples or boils may improve without use of antibiotics. When antibiotics are required, there are usually only a few from which to choose. MRSA bacteria are resistant to penicillin and all penicillin-like drugs. Most hospital-acquired MRSA are also resistant to numerous other antibiotics.

The Oregon DHS Public Health Division offers this Website: http://www.oregon.gov/DHS/ph/acd/diseases/mrsa/mrsa.shtml and The Massachusetts Department of Public Health offers this Website: http://www.mass.gov/dph/cdc/antibiotic/mrsa_helpful_reminders.pdf