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Medical Author:

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD

Dr. Charles "Pat" Davis, MD, PhD, is a board certified Emergency Medicine doctor who currently practices as a consultant and staff member for hospitals. He has a PhD in Microbiology (UT at Austin), and the MD (Univ. Texas Medical Branch, Galveston). He is a Clinical Professor (retired) in the Division of Emergency Medicine, UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, and has been the Chief of Emergency Medicine at UT Medical Branch and at UTHSCSA with over 250 publications.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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About 0.8%-2% of the U.S. population is colonized with MRSA, and these people are called MRSA carriers. The proportion of health care-associated Staphylococcal infections that are due to MRSA (known as hospital-associated MRSA or HA-MRSA) rapidly increased from 2% in intensive-care units in 1974 to 64% in 2004. Approximately 126,000 hospitalizations are due to MRSA yearly. Recent data suggest that MRSA causes about 59% of all skin and soft-tissue infections. Invasive (serious) MRSA infections occur in approximately 94,000 people each year and are associated with approximately 19,000 deaths, reportedly more deaths than HIV per year. Of these MRSA infections that cause death, about 86% are HA-MRSA and 14% are CA-MRSA (also termed community-acquired MRSA because these MRSA infections are acquired outside health care settings). The CDC currently reports a decline in reported MRSA infections; HA-MRSA has dropped by about 28% and a 17% drop in CA-MRSA. These drops may be due to increased public awareness and utilization of methods to avoid transmitting these bacteria to other people.

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