Usually staph infections can be treated by antibiotics like penicillin, methicillin, oxacillin and amoxicillin, which are commonly referred to as beta-lactams. But MRSA is a type of staph infection which does not get cured by the use of standard antibiotics, but still the only way of curing this deadly infection is through antibiotics.
Doctors and researchers are making tireless efforts to find out the right cure which can defeat MRSA. Different antibiotic substances are being tried against MRSA infection, to analyze which one is the most effective. But killing MRSA bacterium with the help of only one antibiotic will be a tall order; therefore, scientists are trying the combinations of more than one antibiotic at the same time. Mostly scientists are formulating a combination of vancomycin, linezolid, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim or rifampin, to tackle the deadly MRSA infection.
Weaker forms of MRSA infections are normally limited to skin infections, and can also be treated by mupirocin, so that the lethal bacteria are stopped from entering the blood to spread the infection. Apart from antibiotic cures; there are also some surgical treatments, which are employed on MRSA patients. One surgical treatment is to drain out the infectious pus from the big boils which develop on the skin of MRSA patients. This pus is an indicator of the devastation that is going to take place inside the victim’s body in the next few days.
In some cases the cause of MRSA infection may be heart valve or any such artificial body part; therefore, a surgical treatment will be required to remove it to speed up the antibiotics treatment. Patients, who suffer from concentrated MRSA infection, may still be away from deep waters, as their inner organs are perfectly safe. Such patients are treated by removing the infected limb, so that the rest of the body remains safe from MRSA bacteria. Removal of a limb is the only way the patient’s life can be safeguarded, as MRSA can cause his death if its effects reach the heart.
Along with surgical operations, patients still require regular dose of antibiotics, so that the MRSA infection can be barred from re-growth. After all these hectic treatments, the patient’s body becomes far more vulnerable to another attack by MRSA infection.
Despite all the research, we still have not found a cure that can kill MRSA infection completely, and much work is still to be done.
Find out more about MRSA treatment at our MRSA virus website.