MRSA Skin Infection

What Is It?

Many types of bacteria can cause skin infections. Most cases are caused by Staphylococcus aureus ("staph") or Streptococcus pyogenes ("strep"). Strep infections still respond well to standard antibiotics. However, that is not true for all staph infections.

Over the last few decades, it has become more common for a certain strain of drug-resistant staph bacteria to cause skin infections. Originally, these resistant staph infections were seen mostly in hospitals. But now they have spread into the general community. This strain of bacteria is named community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or "community-acquired MRSA."