Staphylococcus Aureus

Hi there! I am a Gram-Positive, coccal-shaped, facultative anaerobic bacterium.
I am transmitted within health care facilities either through direct or indirect contact or through contact with infected surfaces.
I am also known as Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) when I express resistance towards beta-lactam antibiotics. Beta-lactam antibiotics include penicillin, methicillin, dicloxacillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, and cephalosporins.
I develop resistance to the aforementioned antibiotics through the process of natural selection.

I induce most problems at hospitals and nursing homes. Potential sites of acquired infections include open wounds, intravenous catheters, respiratory tract, and the urinary tract.
Performing a swab screening generally detects my infection
My initial symptoms are small red bumps, fever and rashes. After a few days, the red bumps grow larger and more painful until they get filled with pus and become infective.
Thus, it is recommended that I get detected within 72 hours of my infestation as after 72 hours, I take control of the infected tissue and become even more resistant to treatments.
An interesting fact about me is that healthy or immune competent individuals can, however, carry us without symptoms from a few weeks to many years.

My associate, MRSA’s infections can be commonly treated with non-β-lactam antibiotics, such as clindamycin (a lincosamine) and co-trimoxazole (also commonly known as trimethoprim/sulfamethaoxazole).

MRSA bacteria are resistant to drying and can therefore survive on surfaces and fabrics for an extended period of time. They therefore make excellent representatives for antimicrobial efficacy testing on surfaces.