MRSA
often called "staph." Many years ago, a strain of staph emerged in hospitals that was
resistant to the broad-spectrum antibiotics commonly used to treat it. Dubbed
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), it has been called a "superbug"
by the media because of its multiple drug resistance. MRSA can cause serious,
sometimes fatal, infections that resist treatment with all but a few drugs - for example,
vancomycin, linezolid or daptomycin. Some extremely rare strains of MRSA that are
resistant even to vancomycin are starting to turn up in some hospitals.
· MRSA in the community. In the 1990s, a type of MRSA began showing up outside
hospital settings - in the wider community. These strains aren't the same as those
associated with health care settings and hospitals. Today, these forms of staph, known
as community-associated MRSA, or CA-MRSA, are responsible for many serious skin
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