Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) News and Research

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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.

MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as community-associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

Inherited genetic tendency appears to protect people from MRSA infections

An inherited genetic tendency appears to increase the likelihood that a person can successfully fight off antibiotic-resistant staph infections, according to a study led by Duke Health researchers.

17 Sep 2019

Researchers examine how superbug fights last-resort antibiotics

Antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today. A new study shows how superbugs adapt to combat 'last-resort antibiotics'.

13 Aug 2019

Rice, UTHealth researchers search for clues to combat antibiotic resistance

To combat the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, researchers are examining how one superbug adapts to fight an antibiotic of last resort, hoping to find clues that can prolong the drug's effectiveness.

13 Aug 2019

Researchers discover elastic polymer with broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties

Researchers from North Carolina State University have found that an elastic polymer possesses broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, allowing it to kill a range of viruses and drug-resistant bacteria in just minutes - including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

2 Aug 2019

Study: Surveillance for antibiotic-resistant bacteria continues to be core focus for healthcare facilities

Below is a summary of a study published online today in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. This article will be freely available for a limited time. SHEA members have full access to all ICHE articles through the online portal.

17 Jul 2019

New methods to recognize antimicrobial resistant bacteria and how they work

The struggle against antimicrobial resistant bacteria is the main topic in the latest issue of the science magazine BfR2GO.

17 Jul 2019

Two New Resistance-Proof Antibiotics Have Been Created

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global concern. Two new resistance-proof antibiotics have been created at the Inserm and Université de Rennes 1.

11 Jul 2019

Germ-zapping robot helps curb the spread of infectious diseases

A germ-zapping robot called LightStrike from Xenex is used at California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) hospitals to help curb the spread of infectious diseases.

26 Apr 2019

New research identifies novel link between antibiotic resistance and climate change

New research presented at this week's 29th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Amsterdam, Netherlands, identifies a novel association between antibiotic resistance and climate change.

15 Apr 2019

Decolonization protocol after hospital discharge can prevent dangerous infections

Hospital patients who have methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus can prevent future MRSA infections by following a standard bathing protocol after discharge, according to research results published in the February 14 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

15 Feb 2019

Irish soil contains bacterial strains effective against antibiotic-resistant superbugs

Researchers analyzing soil from Ireland long thought to have medicinal properties have discovered that it contains a previously unknown strain of bacteria which is effective against four of the top six superbugs that are resistant to antibiotics, including MRSA.

27 Dec 2018

Face masks may offer protection against staph bacteria for hog farm workers and their household members

Face masks appear to provide important protection against drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria for hog farm workers and for household members to whom they might otherwise transmit the bacteria, according to a study led by scientists at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

14 Dec 2018

Simple cleaning procedure reduces MRSA transmission from therapy dogs to children with cancer

Therapy dogs help ease stress in young patients with cancer, but can spread methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, putting vulnerable kids at risk for a serious infection.

5 Oct 2018

Gram-negative bacteria found to be risk factor for worse outcomes in hospitalized ILD patients

Alterations to the respiratory microbiome have been identified as a predisposing factor of interstitial lung diseases. In a study at CHEST 2018, researchers at Beaumont Health Systems studied the influence of bacterial virulence on clinical outcomes patients hospitalized with ILD patients.

4 Oct 2018

Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots help reduce infection rates at Martin Medical Center

Patient safety is a top priority at Martin Medical Center, which recently announced that it has seen a significant reduction in its Clostridium difficile (C.diff) infection rates since adopting Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots as its environmental standard of care.

1 Oct 2018

Study: Privacy curtains in hospitals can become breeding grounds for dangerous germs

Without timely intervention, privacy curtains in hospitals can become breeding grounds for resistant bacteria, posing a threat to patient safety, according to new research published in the American Journal of Infection Control, the journal of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

28 Sep 2018

Hunterdon Medical Center uses LightStrike robot to quickly zap away pathogens

As germs and bacteria become increasingly resistant to cleaning chemicals and antibiotics, Hunterdon Medical Center recently deployed Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robots that use pulsed xenon ultraviolet light to enhance traditional room cleaning procedures as a key part of the hospital's infection prevention program.

10 Sep 2018

Superbugs emerging from skin bacteria on the increase

A new study has shown that some of the sub-strains of the bacteria that commonly live on our skin have become resistant to common infections – or in other words turned into superbugs. Infections with these strains thus could become untreatable with the antibiotics available and may turn life-threatening, warn researchers.

6 Sep 2018

ASU joins with Mayo Clinic to move blue clays closer to medical use

Researchers at Arizona State University and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have found that at least one type of blue clay may help fight disease-causing bacteria in wounds, including antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The findings appear in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents.

21 Aug 2018

Novel compound as effective as FDA-approved antibiotics for treating deadly infections

Purdue University researchers have identified a new compound that in preliminary testing has shown itself to be as effective as antibiotics approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat life-threatening infections while also appearing to be less susceptible to bacterial resistance.

18 Jun 2018