Information, not medical advice
MRSA Guide is published to help you understand MRSA. It cannot diagnose you, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified clinician who can examine you.
Get emergency help for these signs
MRSA can become life-threatening quickly once it moves beyond the skin. Call emergency services (999 in the UK, 911 in the US) or go to an emergency department if you or someone you are with has:
- confusion, slurred speech or unusual drowsiness
- fast breathing or breathlessness at rest
- a rash that does not fade when pressed
- blue, grey, pale or blotchy skin, lips or tongue
- not passing urine all day, or being unable to keep fluids down
- a wound with rapidly spreading redness, severe pain out of proportion to its appearance, or blackened skin
Say clearly that you are worried about sepsis, and mention any known MRSA history. Do not wait for a call-back or an appointment.
What this site does and does not do
The content here is general information about MRSA — how it presents, how it spreads, how it is tested for, and how it is usually treated. It is written for a general audience and cannot account for your age, pregnancy, immune status, other conditions, other medicines, allergies or local resistance patterns.
We cannot assess photographs, interpret swab or culture results, recommend a dose, or tell you whether to stop or start an antibiotic. Never delay seeking care, stop a prescribed course, or self-medicate with leftover antibiotics on the basis of anything you read here.
No clinician–patient relationship
Reading this site, subscribing to updates or contacting us does not create a clinician–patient relationship. Nobody at MRSA Guide is acting as your doctor. We cannot answer personal medical questions and will not attempt to.
Accuracy and change over time
We source content from CDC, IDSA, NHS, NICE, WHO and peer-reviewed literature and date every page, but guidance changes and resistance patterns differ by country and hospital. Your clinician's advice takes precedence over anything published here. Our sourcing process is set out in the editorial policy, and errors can be reported via the contact page.
External links
We link to third-party sources so you can verify what we say. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content or for any advertising shown on them.