Struggling With Recurring MRSA? Here Are Some Treatment Options

A viewer says they keep getting skin infections with MRSA; they want to know what it is and how it can be prevented. Doctor Lacy Anderson has the answer.

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant staph. aureus. Staph. aureus is a very common bacteria on our skin, but it has a growing resistance to several antibiotics. It often causes painful boils on the skin and abscesses, or pockets of infection under the skin. Sometimes these infections will drain infected fluid on their own and sometimes they need to be drained at a doctor’s office. 

There are a few antibiotics that can kill MRSA including Bactrim and doxycycline as well as a topical antibiotic called Bactroban or mupirocin.  

If you are getting MRSA infections recurrently, you are likely colonized with this bacterium somewhere on your body. It can often be found inside your nose or under your fingernails. It may be worth doing a 2 week course of daily mupirocin ointment underneath your fingernails and inside your nose once to twice daily to help kill any MRSA in these areas and prevent future infections.  

It’s also worth bathing with chlorhexidine soap, an antibacterial soap, for a few days as well to kill any MRSA on your skin.