What is staphylococcus in simple terms?
What is staphylococcus in simple terms?
Staphylococcus: A group of bacteria that cause a multitude of diseases. Under a microscope, staphylococcus bacteria are round and bunched together. They can cause illness directly by infection or indirectly through products they make, such as the toxins responsible for food poisoning and toxic shock syndrome.
What is known about staphylococcus?
(S. aureus) or “staph” is a common bacteria often found in the respiratory tract or on the skin. About 30% of us have the bacteria in our nose. It is not normally harmful but can sometimes cause skin, bone or bloodstream infections. Sometimes it is also known as methicillin-sensitive staphylococcus aureus.
What does the staphylococcus do?
It is the leading cause of skin and soft tissue infections such as abscesses (boils), furuncles, and cellulitis. Although most staph infections are not serious, S. aureus can cause serious infections such as bloodstream infections, pneumonia, or bone and joint infections.
Is staphylococcus good or bad?
In most situations, S. aureus is harmless. However, if it enters the body through a cut in the skin, it can cause a range of mild to severe infections, which may cause death in some cases.
Where does Staphylococcus come from?
Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria, types of germs commonly found on the skin or in the nose of even healthy individuals. Most of the time, these bacteria cause no problems or result in relatively minor skin infections.
What is another name for Staphylococcus?
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (commonly known as MRSA) is a subset of bacterial (staph) infection of the skin. “Staph” is the common name for the bacteria named, Staphylococcus aureus.
Where are Staphylococcus found?
Staphylococcus aureus or “staph” is a type of bacteria found on human skin, in the nose, armpit, groin, and other areas.
Where do you get staphylococcus?
Staphylococcus aureus or “staph” is a type of bacteria found on human skin, in the nose, armpit, groin, and other areas. While these germs don’t always cause harm, they can make you sick under the right circumstances.
Is staphylococcus an STD?
Staph infection is not a sexually-transmitted disease. However, due to the fact that it is on the surface of the skin, it can be passed across but it is not a sexually transmitted disease.
What does a staph infection look like when it first starts?
The infection often begins with a little cut, which gets infected with bacteria. This can look like honey-yellow crusting on the skin. These staph infections range from a simple boil to antibiotic-resistant infections to flesh-eating infections.
What is MRSA and how dangerous is it?
MRSA is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a potentially dangerous type of staph bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics and may cause skin and other infections.
What family does Staphylococcus belong to?
Staphylococcus is a genus of Gram-positive bacteria in the family Staphylococcaceae in the order Bacillales. Under the microscope, they appear spherical (cocci), and form in grape-like clusters. Staphylococcus species are facultative anaerobic organisms (capable of growth both aerobically and anaerobically).
What does Staphylococcus aureus do to the body?
Most often, it causes mild infections on the skin, like sores or boils. But it can also cause more serious skin infections or infect surgical wounds, the bloodstream, the lungs, or the urinary tract. Though most MRSA infections aren’t serious, some can be life-threatening.
