The staph infection is an infection which is caused by the bacteria S.Aureus. This bacteria is usually found on your nose or your skin. While the staph infection is usually harmless and only causes irritations on your skin, it could become life threatening if the bacteria S.Aureus enter your bloodstream.

Causes of Staph Infection

Staph infection can be caused for various reasons. The S Aureus bacteria which causes this infection can be present in your skin. This bacteria could break into your skin if your skin is very fragile and weak. The irritation caused to your skin after you have been shaving it could increase your chances of getting the staph infection.

Staph infection could also occur due to food poisoning. The S Aureus bacteria could survive in food items which are not cold enough or hot enough. Food products like potatoes, tuna, meat, chicken, eggs, cream pies, the and mayonnaise salads and various other kinds of dairy products are extremely susceptible to the S Aureus bacteria, if they are not stored properly.

Staph infection could spread through the use of tampons. Moist tampons could serve as an excellent breeding ground for the bacteria S. Aureus. They will cause irritation to your vagina thereby increasing the chances of the bacteria to enter your bloodstream.

You could get staph infection if your immune system is very weak. For example, if you are a person who is suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, then your immune system will be very weak owing to the consumption of arthritis drugs. Consequently you will be at great risk of getting the staph infection.

Symptoms of Staph Infection

The symptoms of staph infection are infected acne, furuncles, boils, abscess, pimples full of pus, carbuncles, open and swelling wounds, swollen skin that is red in colour, blistering skin and swelling groin, armpits or eyelids. The kind of staph infection symptoms that you should will depend on what kind of staph infection you have acquired.

If you have developed boils and furuncles that have been caused by the staph bacteria, then the symptoms which you would show are large and painful pus filled boils. If you have folliculitis, that is infection in your hair follicles, then the symptoms would be dotted white pimples right at the end of your hair shaft.

If you are suffering from impetigo, then the symptoms of the staph infection would be small blisters all over your skin. These will later for a crusty and honey coloured layer and will increase the urge in your to scratch them. Scratching would cause the infection to spread and in no time at all, your body will be covered in blisters.

Cellulite is another infection which is caused by the staph bacteria. When you have cellulites, then the area around the infected portion becomes red and swollen and you also suffer from nausea and fever. Small red spots might also appear on your skin during the course of this infection.

Types Of Staph Infection

The different types of infection caused by staph bacteria are pneumonia, cellulites, toxic shock syndrome and mastitis. Pneumonia is an infection during which your lungs experience inflammation owing to the accumulation of pathogens and white blood cells. It is characterized by chest pains, frequent coughs, vomiting, chest pains, fever and difficult breathing.

Cellulite is an infection caused by staph bacteria which causes your skin to become swollen and red. The affected part of the skin is very painful and also appears to be quite tender and warm. While this infection generally affects your lower legs, it could also affect your feet, arms and face. This infection could become quite life threatening as it could spread through your body very rapidly and enter your bloodstream or lymph nodes.

The toxic shock syndrome is caused by the use of unhygienic tampons. It is a life threatening disease. You will know you are suffering from the toxic shock syndrome if the symptoms which you face are bloodshot eyes, headaches, redness in the mouth as well as the vagina, abnormal pulse rate, high fever, vomiting, diarrhea and accelerated breathing.

Mastitis is an infection caused by the staph bacteria where your breast tissues are affected. You could get this disease particularly if you have been breast feeding. The symptoms of this disease are tender, red and swollen breasts, fever and painful breasts.

Staph Infection Treatment

The treatment for staph can be traced to as early as the decade of the 1940’s. During the 1940’s, an antibiotic drug was developed to fight the S. Auereus bacteria which is known to cause staph infections. The drug proved to be very effective treatment initially and helped in saving numerous lives. However, the staph bacteria was soon able to resist this penicillin antibiotic owing to be exposed to this drug repeatedly.

Within a period of ten years, most of the bacteria causing staph became resistant to this treatment. Thus other effective treatment for killing such a deadly virus had to be discovered. Consequently, many different kinds of effective drugs such as dicloaxcillin and methicillin were discovered for killing the bacteria that causes staph illness.

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Like the penicillin drugs, the methicillin drugs and the dicloaxcillin drugs also lasted for a very short time. Very soon the staph causing bacteria became able to resist these drugs. Health care professionals once again had to devote themselves to the task of producing treatment which killed the staph causing bacteria. Eventually, a potent and toxic drug known as the vancomycin was developed.

This drug was found to be very effective in the treatment of the bacteria causing staph which had been resistant to the pencillin and various other antibiotics. The bacteria causing staph which had been resistant to penicillin and the other antibiotic drugs but which were not resistant to vancomycin came to be known as the Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcal Aureus.

Staph bacteria are able to resist the toxic and potent vancomycin drug after being repeatedly exposed to it. Other kinds of treatment of such bacteria which are resistant to the vancomycin have not yet been found. Thus while the staph bacteria is extremely deadly, several endeavours have and still are being made to discover its treatment.