1. Staph Infection Slideshow Pictures
2. MRSA Slideshow Pictures
3. 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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There are two main categories of treatment for staph infections, surgical and antibiotic treatment. In most patients that require surgical treatment, antibiotic treatment is also required. Pus drainage is the main surgical treatment; however, surgical removal of sources of infection (for example, intravenous lines, artificial grafts, heart valves, or pacemakers) may be required. Other sites of infection such as joint infections (especially in children), osteomyelitis, or postoperative abscesses may require surgery. Any tissue site that continues to shed staph may require surgical intervention.

There are many antibiotics (for example, nafcillin, cefazolin, dicloxacillin, clindamycin, or bactrim) that are effective against staph if the bacteria are shown to be non-MRSA staph. However, MRSA organisms usually require other antibiotics; minor skin infections may be treated with mupirocin (bactroban), but serious MRSA infections are usually treated with two or more antibiotics (for example, vancomycin, linezolid, rifampin, sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim, and others).

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