How Long does MRSA Live on Furniture? How to Take Proper Care of it

How long does MRSA live on furniture? MRSA Staphylococcus aureus is a common infection living among people. If you are reading to know more about this infection, then you are in the right place. Read down!

Taking necessary precautions at home is important to reduce the chances of spreading MRSA among family members

What You Should Know About MRSA

Staphylococcus aureus (SA) is a bacterium that is present on the skin or in the nose of about three out of ten healthy persons. A lot of people are not aware that they are carrying the bacteria.

When the SA bacteria are present on your nose or on your skin, they usually do not cause any harm.

However, if these bacteria find their way into or through your skin, you will experience a variety of infections, such as wounds and skin infections. Occasionally, these bacteria can lead to serious infections in your lungs, blood, or other tissues.

MRSA bacteria are forms of Staph bacteria that have developed a resistance to several antibiotics that are usually used to treat Staphylococcus infections.

MRSA was once discovered in hospitals, but now, new strains of MRSA associated with the community are approximately 1 out of 5 community Staphylococcus infections.

How Long Does MRSA Live on Furniture?

(MRSA) can live on certain surfaces, like furniture, towels, razors, as well as athletic equipment for hours, days, and even weeks.

These bacteria can spread to people who come in contact with a contaminated surface. These bacteria can result in an infection if they find their way into a scrape, cut, or open wound.

Can I Contact MRSA?

This bacterial infection is very contagious under certain situations (when there are skin alterations or damages); it spreads through person-to-person contact, or indirect contact such as using an infected person’s towel or clothing, and even from gym benches.

MRSA only needs a small break into the skin or mucosa to establish itself.

No break-in means no infection. This is why infected pregnant women seldom infect their fetuses or infants, but activities like saliva exchange, kissing, and sexual contact can cause an MRSA infection if the mucosa or skin is damaged.

If hospital patients have MRSA Pneumonia, they may infect others through the air by droplets that are contaminated.

Bodies of dead MRSA patients often have viable MRSA, which can infect other people on their surfaces. The incubation period for this organism ranges from 1 to 10 days.

A person who is colonized with these bacteria (one who has MRSA present in his or her body) may be contagious for an unspecified period.

Also, the organism can live on some surfaces for 2 to 6 months if the surfaces are left unwashed or unsterilized.

How to Know If You Have MRSA

Most MRSA infections on the skin first show up as a reddish bump that becomes swollen and painful in a short time. It also becomes warm and contains or drains pus. This infection can appear almost anywhere on the body.

An infected person may also develop a fever. Patients who are hospitalized patients may show pneumonia, surgical wound infections, or sepsis.

The best way to diagnose MRSA, however, is to have your physician culture the bacteria (biopsy, skin lesion, or nasal swab) and then show that they are resistant to some antibiotics.

How is MRSA Transmitted?

In the community, MRSA is spread from one person to another by direct contact. It can also be spread by indirect contact since the bacteria can live on objects like benches, towels, shaving equipment, clothing, and other objects.

MRSA needs a breach, such as a cut on the skin to infect a person.

MRSA that is spread in the hospital can be spread through the above methods and also by blood, droplets in the air, and saliva. Hospital patients with MRSA are usually put under isolation conditions to help prevent the spread of MRSA.

MRSA carriers who are colonized with the bacteria are less likely to infect others; transmission is possible if the person is infected.

How Do You Treat MRSA Infection?

If you have MRSA on your skin or your nose, and you are healthy, you do not need any treatment, and you should go about your normal activities.

Even though you do not pose a health risk to your family, your colleagues, or the public, make sure you wash your hands regularly with soap and water.

You can rub a hand sanitizer that has alcohol on your hand after touching surfaces. These will help prevent the spread of the organism.

Mild MRSA infections of the skin may only require warm compresses or draining if there is an abscess, your health care provider will prescribe antibiotics.

How to Care for MRSA Infection

1. Clean your Hands

Clean your hands frequently with a bar of antibacterial soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub, especially after changing your bandages or touching the drainage.
It matters how you wash your hands.

When using soap and water, you have to rub your hands for at least 20 seconds to get rid of the bacteria. When using alcohol-based hand sanitizer, use enough to cover all the surfaces of your hands.

2. Showering and Personal Care

Take a bath or shower often, and be sure to use soap to clean your body while showering or bathing. Do not share towels, washcloths, razors, or other personal items.

3. Caring for your Sore

If you get a cut or scrape on your skin, clean it with soap and water and then cover it with a bandage. Do not touch sores; if you do touch a sore, clean your hands right away.

Keep the infected area covered with clean, dry bandages. Cover any infected sores with a bandage and clean your hands right away after putting on the bandage.

Wear clothes that cover your bandages and sores, if possible. Throw used dressings away promptly.

4. Sports and the Gym

Do not participate in contact sports until your sores have healed. Do not go to a public gym, sauna, hot tub, or pool until sores have healed.

How to Care for Infected MRSA Surfaces

When cleaning and disinfecting, focus on surfaces that frequently contact with people’s bare skin like desks, chairs, benches, gym equipment, lockers, faucets, light switches, and remote controls.

In particular, clean any surfaces that could come into contact with uncovered wounds, cuts, or boils. In addition to cleaning surfaces, frequently cleaning hands and keeping wounds covered keeps MRSA from spreading.

Large surfaces, such as floors and walls, have not been associated with the spread of staph and MRSA.

There is no evidence that spraying or fogging rooms or surfaces with disinfectants will prevent MRSA infections more effectively than the targeted approach of cleaning frequently touched surfaces and surfaces that have been exposed to open wounds.

Summary

At this point, I believe you have gotten as much information as you need about MRSA infection. it can be prevented if you pay great attention to your hygiene and clean the surfaces of your furniture at home.

There is nothing to panic about if you think you are infected, follow the instructions outlined above in this article to get rid of MRSA from your home.

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How Long Does MRSA Live on Furniture? How to Take Proper Care of It