Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) is a Staph bacterium that has acquired the genes conferring broad spectrum antibiotic resistance to even the most Staph-effective antibiotics such as methicillin and oxacillin. MRSA can live for months on the surface of the skin and in the anterior nares. Recolonization can occur by contact with still-contaminated surfaces and carriers. It is, therefore, very difficult to eliminate treat MRSA infections. Statistically, most MRSA infections presents in either hospital settings or the community at large. In hospitals, the infection tends to be transmitted more easily because of the increased prevalence of open wounds and many patients with compromised immune systems.
Prisons also tend to have increased incidence of MRSA outbreaks. Many factors endemic to prisons are to blame. Prisoners tend to be more immunocompromised as a population (most commonly from HIV, hepatitis, cirrhosis, intravenous drug use, general poor health, and poor nutrition). In addition, prisoners live in close quarters and that increases the number of prisoner-prisoner contacts and prisoner-object-prisoner contacts. Because Staph can live up to a month on cloth (e.g., mattresses and other fomites), and up to about a week on other inanimate surfaces, such as metal jail cell bars, table tops, gym equipment, etc., these become common sources for re-exposure. Further, the constant influx of new prisoners as well as the constrained environments also can increase the risk of transmission. MRSA, for example, can enter through an open wound, abraded skin or can even get a foothold through a hair follicle.
MRSA colonization is most commonly found in the anterior nostrils, however it is possible to carry the microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract.
Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) medical expert witness specialties include infectious disease, pediatric infectious disease, microbiology, prison medicine, hospitalist medicine, pediatric hospitalist medicine, wound care, hepatology, addiction psychiatry, nutrition medicine, internal medicine, family medicine, and pediatrics.