How do Staph and MRSA Survive so Well?

I constantly hear from people who do not know what MRSA is, or how it differs from a Staph infection. So, what kind of germ is MRSA? Is it a virus, a bacteria? Where do you get it? What exactly is it?

MRSA is short for “Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus”. It’s a type of Staph bacteria that can be caught in both hospitals and in the community and it can cause both skin infections and internal infections. Its full name is “Staphylococcus aureus”, and it is resistant to methicillin type antibiotics, and others as well.

Simply put, it’s a bacteria that is immune to many kinds of antibiotics, and in some cases, all antibiotics. VRSA is another form of MRSA, and it stands for “Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus”, and it is resistant to one of the last resort antibiotics called vancomycin. Fortunately, this infection is still relatively rare.

MRSA is a bacteria, not a virus. Viruses are much smaller than bacteria and are responsible for colds and flu. You can find out more by about the different types of MRSA by clicking here.

Bacteria grow fast and spread quickly

As a Microbiologist, I find that bacteria are truly amazing. They are so small that it takes 1000 of them to span the width of a pin-head. Yet bacteria are the most tough, resourceful and abundant life-forms on earth.

Bacteria grow and reproduce faster than you can believe. Some can double their population in less than 10 minutes! Staph and MRSA reproduce every half hour. That’s nearly 50 generations each day! That means that in one day, a single MRSA or Staph bacteria can reproduce 100,000,000,000,000 new offspring! It’s no wonder why MRSA can cause such stubborn infections that can grow and worsen so quickly.

The really dangerous thing about bacteria is they can quickly adapt and change themselves each time they reproduce. And because they reproduce so quickly, they also adapt very quickly to the antibiotic drugs we use to kill them.

Bacteria share information

Bacteria also ‘talk’ with each other, sharing information on how to resist antibiotics. It’s like passing notes back and forth letting other bacteria know how to defend against antibiotics. And antibiotics are pretty easy for bacteria to figure out because they are very simple chemically, only have one active ingredient, and only have one method of attack to harm bacteria.

This problem is called” antibiotic resistance”, and that’s why MRSA is so dangerous. Most of the drugs available to treat these infections have stopped working, and even new antibiotics are quickly losing their effectiveness.

Nature is complex

Nature made bacteria very clever and gave them the ability to defend themselves and survive. Thankfully, nature also made a way to keep bacteria in their place and keep them from getting out of control.

There are many plants, natural agents and natural medicines that can kill Staph bacteria (which include MRSA) that bacteria can not easily become resistant to. These plants often have hundreds of different active components that work together in complex ways on multiple fronts to control bacteria.

Not all bacteria are “bad”

There are also ‘good’ bacteria that help you fight off the ‘bad’ bacteria. In fact, these good bacteria live in your gut and all over your skin, giving you an army of defense against invading bacterial infections. Nature is complex so you don’t have to be. Nature already knows how to control MRSA. It’s just a matter of learning how to use nature to kill the ‘bad’ bacteria and make the ‘good’ bacteria stronger.

There is certainly a time and a place for antibiotics. But what if you’re allergic to antibiotics? And what do you do when antibiotics don’t work? I’ll soon share with you 3 important steps on how to stop these infections, whether your using natural or antibiotic approaches.