Would somebody plz tell me about MRSA?

MRSA stands for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus which is a bacterium infection that has resistance against methicillin anti-biotic...i know that but i have two questions about it...first: Why is it mostly spread in hospitals since they call it hospital-associated MRSA?, second: Why is it also called 'super bug'?

My 2 cents--everyone hear is blaming the doc's for giving these antibiotics, but the public DEMANDS them--just look at YA--everyone ends with go to the er/docs/etc and get (an Rx). Many people refuse to leave the ER or clinic unless they get a drug. So the blame can be spread around. Also, many people don't finish their full Rx which contributes to the bacteria getting resistant (they aren't killed off); take someone else's Rx (not correct drug so passive bacteria develop resistance); go to Mexico & buy antibiotics, demand a really "strong" antibiotic that is too general and again passive bacteria become resistant, etc etc. Many of these resistant bacteria were felt to have been created in children treated inappropriately for "ear infections" and have spread. Since hospitals are full of patients on extremely potent multiple antibiotics and patients have alot of infections, it is a ripe combo to select out super-resistant antibiotics. This is really becoming a big problem.

There's an even worse one VRE...they both run in hospitals. Also C.Diff.

Read up here:

http://www.uhealthnet.on.ca/Patients_&_V...

http://mass.gov/dph/cdc/antibiotic/mrsa_...

CA = Community Acquired meaning hospitals and nursing homes, and the fact that people "demand" antibiotics and doctors give it to them only proves that this is a worse problem in the USA...why? Because healthcare is not regulated by government and thus pharma companies sell people on the "benefits" of their drugs and manipulate them into demanding this stuff from thier doctors. People don't know any better and doctors couldn't care less really and just give in to them rather than risk having a law suit. Plain and simple. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that when people PAY for healthcare, they'd better walk out with some DRUG IN HAND.

The "hospital-associated" label was correct years ago. Now MRSA is seen very frequently outside the hospital. Staph aureus is extremely efficient in becoming resistant to antibiotics.

Another poster has suggested it is due to overuse of antibiotics (specifically in the US, no less); Rest assured that physicians worldwide prescribe antibiotics, if they're available. They are readily available in the EU, AsiaPac, etc. So to tag the US as the only offender is laughable.
In fact, MRSA was first seen in Northern Europe over 40 years ago or so. According to Alex van Belkum, a molecular biologist in The Netherlands:
"In the Netherlands, for instance, the annual number of MRSA strains submitted for epidemiological typing to the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment has risen from less than 200 in the early nineties to about 500 to date."

However there are other facts to consider:
1. Patients do not take all of their antibiotics as prescribed. They quit taking them when they feel better.
This has contributed many times over to the resistance (in many organisms) than overprescription.

2. Staph aureus is the most efficient bacteria at developing immunity to antibiotics. The immunity was going to happen no matter what. It was hastened by the failure of patients to complete the course of antibiotics and to a much lesser extent by overprescription by physicians. Staph is especially adept in swapping genetic material between themselves so that others organisms benefit from their evolution. Its called plasmid-mediated immunity.

The superbug label is overly dramatic. Given the right circumstances, many organisms will develop immunity or resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Examples are TB, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningiditis, Streptococcus pyogenes (Group A strep).

Staph is just overly efficient. It simply a matter of survival of the fittest. The toughest bugs survive if they're not eradicated completely. They reproduce themselves and pretty soon all you have are the toughest of the tough.

hospitals are filthy... have a look at the water in the bucket when the cleaner goes by to mop the floor. when do you think the water was changed.. and doctors DO NOT wash their hands from one patient to the next.. nurses do on occasion.. and this is how MRSA is spread by contact...and is a super bug because its resistant to anti biotics.. because anti biotics are given out willynilly to everyone who DO DOESNT need then,, (kids with the sniffles) and their bodies become use to the anti biotic.some people are carriers of MRSA ( MY mom and sister) but do not get the infection. so have to be in segragation when admitted to hospital...

It is so readily spread in hospitals because most people have an already weakened immune system and the fact that there are so many people in such small quaters that it is easy for one person to touch an infected person, surface etc and spread it to someone who is prone to infeciton.

Furthermore, since many people are on anti-biotics while they are in the hospital, they are subject to infecitons that are not killed by the average anti-biotic.

The term superbug does not imply severity of the condition, but is rather a commentary on how resistant they are to traditional anti-biotics. As the the germ survives a stronger and stronger course of antibiotics, a stronger and stonger bug survives and procreates.

Now you have CA MRSA. The CA stands for community acquired and people have died from it. That's how super the bugs are getting.