A recent study conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found a drop in the rate at which patients contract the infectious disease methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
“Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, or staph, live on the skin or in the noses of about a third of the U.S. population and are usually harmless. But when the bacteria find their way into the bloodstream - usually through cuts and scrapes - they can turn deadly. Symptoms of a staph infection include small red bumps on the skin, which can turn into more severe sores. When the bacteria spread past the skin, they may cause life-threatening infections in bones, organs and the bloodstream”
Staph infections are very common to pick up in hospitals because due to the large amount of people with various ailments coming and going. Despite how sterile many hospitals try to be, MRSA can grow resistant to cleaning agents thus making them more dangerous and harder to treat.
The study found that, “Overall, the number of serious MRSA infections diagnosed while people were in the hospital fell by 54 percent between 2005 and 2011 - from about 9.7 infections per 100,000 people to about 4.5 per 100,000 people”
The findings might suggest that the staph bacteria is becoming less invasive and somewhat more controlled, especially in hospital environments. Advancements in prevention and treatment of MRSA are also thought to help prevent the spread of the infectious disease.