Understanding MRSA Symptoms

What Are the Symptoms of MRSA?

The symptoms of MRSA infection depend on where you've been infected.

MRSA most often appears as a skin infection, like a boil or abscess. It also might infect a surgical wound. In either case, the area would look:

• Swollen
• Red
• Painful
• Pus filled

Many people who actually have staph skin infections often mistake it for a spider bite.

If staph infects the lungs and causes pneumonia, you might have:

• Shortness of breath
• Fever
• Cough
• Chills

MRSA can cause many other symptoms since it can infect the urinary tract or the bloodstream.

Very rarely, staph can result in necrotizing fasciitis, or "flesh-eating" bacterial infections. These are serious skin infections that spread very quickly. While frightening, necrotizing fasciitis caused by staph is rare. There have only been a handful of reported cases.

Call Your Doctor About MRSA If:

See your health care provider if you have signs of active infection. In most cases, MRSA is easily treated. But since MRSA infection can be serious or -- rarely -- fatal.

If you are already being treated for an infection, watch for signs that your medicine isn't working. If you are taking an antibiotic, call your doctor if

• The infection is no better after three or four days
• The infection keeps getting worse
• You develop a fever, or your fever gets worse

People who are ill or have a compromised immune system have a higher risk of getting serious MRSA infections. If you have a condition that lowers your immunity, call your doctor right away if you think that you might have an infection.