Staph Infection Slideshow Pictures MRSA Slideshow Pictures Take the MRSA Quiz!

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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Staph Infection Symptoms and Signs

Most staph infections that are visible usually have a reddish, swollen, and tender area at the site of infection. Often the site oozes pus or has some crusty covering with drainage. Sites of infection can be small like a pimple or large like a carbuncle. Cellulitis often shows redness and swelling without pus, but impetigo shows a crusty weeping rash with an occasional blister. Scalded skin syndrome shows extensive skin redness with bullae (fluid- or pus-filled blisters). Infected catheters and other implanted devices usually show redness, pus, and tenderness at the skin entry site. Deep abscesses, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, and most other internal infections are only seen by X-ray and other imaging techniques or are not visible at all (for example, toxic shock, food poisoning). The appearances described above are only suggestive of staph infection; proof of infection depends on bacterial culture and subsequent identification of the infecting agent.