LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Staph infections, once found only in hospitals, are showing up in gyms, jails and schools.
The constant use of different antibiotics to treat hospital staph infections has led to a bacterium known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is resistant to many of the most powerful antibiotics, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Sometimes the bacterium causes infections such as pneumonia or meningitis. In a few cases, staph infections can turn into necrotizing fasciitis, the so-called flesh-eating disease. In rare cases, an infection can be fatal, the newspaper said.
A study last year in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases estimated there were about 126,000 cases from 1999 to 2000.
The bacterium thrives in warm, moist areas of the human body and survives for hours -- or even days -- on inanimate objects such as towels, the newspaper said.
More than 30 percent of Americans carry some kind of staph infection in their nose. About 1 percent have the methicillin-resistant strain, and half of those have an even newer strain that is less resistant, but more damaging, the newspaper said.
