Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA); Hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA)

Draining the skin infection may be the only treatment needed for a local skin MRSA infection. This procedure should be done at the doctor's office. Do not try to pop open or drain the infection yourself. Keep any sore or wound covered.

If you are given antibiotics, be sure to take all the doses, even if you feel better. Not finishing the full course of antibiotics can allow an infection that seemed to be gone to come back (relapse).

More serious MRSA infections are becoming harder to treat. Your doctor will follow guidelines about which antibiotics should be used.

Other treatments may be needed for more serious infections. If you are not already in the hospital, you may be admitted. Treatment may involve:

• Fluids and medications given through a vein
• Kidney dialysis (if kidney failure occurs)
• Oxygen

For more information about MRSA, see the Centers for Disease Control web site: www.cdc.gov/mrsa/.

How well a person does depends on the severity of the infection and their overall health. MRSA-related pneumonia and blood infections are associated with high death rates.

Call your health care provider if you have any wound that seems to get worse instead of healing.

Review Date: 06/09/2011
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Jatin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)