What causes MRSA infection?
Most people are not at risk. MRSA usually becomes a problem only if you are very ill, injured or have had surgery. It can cause infections if it enters the body through wounds or tubes after surgery or if you have a serious illness. For this reason, MRSA tends to be most common in hospitals and in those people receiving multiple healthcare interventions – for example, those with wounds as a result of surgery or chronic wounds; those with drains (plastic tubes used to drain fluids), PEG feeding tubes or intravenous drips, and patients receiving dialysis. These people are already ill and susceptible to infection and if their skin is already colonised by the MRSA germs, they are at a greater risk of developing an MRSA infection. The MRSA germ can also be spread directly from person to person via people’s hands or indirectly from patients’ environment via poor hygiene. This is why it is very important that everyone in a healthcare environment practices thorough and regular hand washing and
