Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections in humans / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a group of gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of Staphylococcus aureus. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. It caused more than 100,000 deaths worldwide attributable to antimicrobial resistance in 2019.
MRSA is any strain of S. aureus that has developed (through natural selection) or acquired (through horizontal gene transfer) a multiple drug resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics. Beta-lactam (β-lactam) antibiotics are a broad-spectrum group that include some penams (penicillin derivatives such as methicillin and oxacillin) and cephems such as the cephalosporins.[1] Strains unable to resist these antibiotics are classified as methicillin-susceptible S. aureus, or MSSA.
MRSA infection is common in hospitals, prisons, and nursing homes, where people with open wounds, invasive devices such as catheters, and weakened immune systems are at greater risk of healthcare-associated infection. MRSA began as a hospital-acquired infection but has become community-acquired, as well as livestock-acquired. The terms HA-MRSA (healthcare-associated or hospital-acquired MRSA), CA-MRSA (community-associated MRSA), and LA-MRSA (livestock-associated MRSA) reflect this.[citation needed]