MRSA Antibiotics

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, is a bacterial infection that has been becoming resitant to many antibiotics.  There are still treatment options available, and your doctor will know the best treatment option for you. 

MRSA antibiotics tend to be few in numbers, mainly due to the various resistances this infectious bacteria has developed.  MRSA has become a very dangerous disease, spreading in hospitals to those who are already injured.  Due to the various antibiotics that now have no effect on a very basic bacterial infection, treatment has become more difficult, and there is even the potential for those treatments to lose effectiveness over time. 

How Bacteria Becomes Resistant

Bacteria has two main ways of developing a resistance to certain antibiotics.  The unfortunate side is they will continue to develop resistances to antibiotics the more they are used on a certain type of infection.  Resistances are developed by either an alteration to the specific DNA of the bacterium, causing it to develop new qualities in order to survive in an ever changing environment.

MRSA has evolved this way and also with the transferance of various resistances from other types of bacteria.  With the overuse of antibiotics over the past several decades, it was inevitable that there would be an immergance of a disease like this.  With various types of bacteria, which form in clusters and colonies, there will always be some that have a tolerance to the medication used to treat it.  After a short span of time, clusters and colonies of the surviving bacteria will form, creating a new breed which can't be treated with that specific antibiotic.  Give it a little more time, and those colonies will spread that resistance to other types of bacteria, and there will be several types of antibiotics which now no longer effective in the treatment of infections.

MRSA Superbug

The MRSA superbug has been a severe concern in hospitals.  Since it can survive in the sterile environment, it can easily infect those who are there for treatment, especially since their immune system will already be busy trying to fight off their initial reason for hospitalization. 

Currently, there are a few types of MRSA anitbiotics which are effective in the treatment of the infection.  They are

• Cancomycin
• Teioplanin

While these are the only known anitibiotics still effective against MRSA, we can hope to learn better treatment options with the knowledge we have on the antibiotics that are ineffective against MRSA. Those are

• Flucloxacillin
• Erythromycin
• Ciprofloxacin