In the first years of the 21st century, my husband and I hired a carpenter-friend, John McCabe, to work on our 1855 home in Rhode Island. During this time John showed me a MRSA infection on his wrist that he had contracted while working on a project in New York City. He revealed that he had been hospitalized there for several days with intravenous antibiotics that failed to have any effect, and he was released after the unsuccessful treatment of the antibiotic-resistant MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus). MRSA infections are novel bacteria known to be resistant to the broad-spectrum of antibiotics, such as methicillin, amoxicillin and penicillin. There are both community acquired infections (CA-MRSA) and hospital acquired infections(HA-MRSA). The progress of a MRSA infection is such that you get a small cut that does not heal after two to three days and the area becomes swollen, oozing pus and is hot to the touch (www.hopkinsmed-icine.org). MRSA infections are typically spread by contact with infected people or things, and it is estimated that 5 of patients in U.S. hospitals carry MRSA in their nose or on their skin. An MRSA infected area is: red, swollen, painful, warm to the touch, full of pus or other drainage and is accompanied by a fever.
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