Staph Infection

Ever heard the coaches and trainers consistentlly tell you how important it was to take a shower after your workout? There was a reason for that. In addition, whenever you got a cut on your skin, would they immediately send you to get taped up. Staphylococcus aureus, AKA Staph infection, is the cause for this strict protection.

Staph Aureus is known to be part of the normal flora of some individuals, but can be harmful to others who don't have it. For instance, take a normal, healthy looking, football player all sweaty from lifting weights. His sweaty arm ends up rubbing against the leg of one of his fellow teammates. The teammate has a cut from practice that has been left unbandaged for the past weeks. The sweaty skin touching the leg of the teammate is enough to transfer Staph auerus and cause health problems.

What does Staph Look Like? 

Gram positive cocci

Under a microscope with a gram stain, they are seen as gram-positve cocci clustered up.
However, since you might not have access to a microscope, there are other physical symptoms to look out for.


Individual with Staph infection

Staph infection can be characterized by a pimple like thing appearing anywhere on your body. It will be a collection of pus, often associated with redness and pain in the affected area as illustrated above.
Treatment of Staph
If left untreated staph infection can be known to cause death. In other words, the longer you wait to treat it, the more health problems you will encounter. Staph is resisitant to penicillin to don't even try any medication with the suffix -cillin. Doctors usually prescribe an ointment to treat staph. In some cases, even surgery is required to remove the infected area. (I know because this happend to two of my friends senior year) Personal hygiene is the best way to prevent staph infection from happening.