Can I catch MRSA from playing sport?
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is usually associated with hospital infections, where it can cause severe illness in the immunocompromised and elderly, particularly people with wounds where the bacteria can get in. In this article in Microbiology Today (pdf) Jodi Lindsay tells us about a novel strain of MRSA found in the USA that is causing concern. Called Community-acquired-MRSA (CA-MRSA), the bacteria can cause infection in healthy people and several outbreaks in contact sports teams have been reported:
Staphylococcus aureus are bacteria that commonly live in the nose, and about 20% of us carry them all the time, with another 50% intermittently coloni-zed. We have all had an S. aureus infection, usually an infected cut or wound that became inflamed and maybe produced some pus. Because of our healthy immune response, predominantly the production of neutrophils, we didn’t need anti-biotics and the infection cleared itself. Very occasionally, a S. aureus infection can become more serious in a healthy person, but we don’t really know why. However, in the USA there have recently been out-breaks of a new type of meticillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), to which athletes are particularly vulnerable…
Related:
- MRSA: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
- Novel treatments for MRSA
- Evolution and pathogenesis of Staphylococcus aureus
- Maggots or MRSA?
Tags: Antibiotics, Bacteria, Biology, football, Health, Medicine, Microbiology, Science, sport, USA
