PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Researchers have found that millions of people are carrying an antibiotic-resistant bacteria and don't know.
MRSA is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bacterial infection that is difficult to treat because it can be resistant to many antibiotics.
Dr. Arch Mainous, professor of community health and family medicine at the University of Florida, says his research has found that many people unknowingly carry MRSA, just as people can carry COVID-19 without showing symptoms. They don't know they have it, but can spread it.
"We're looking at people who are basically middle-age to older adults, who are just in the community, who have MRSA and don't know it because they're not sick. And what we found was that, if we look at them over an 11-year period, we compared them to people who didn't have MRSA, they were almost twice as likely to die in that 11-year period."
He says the link between MRSA and premature death is still unknown, but adds, it may be worthwhile to do routine testing in this age group to identify those carrying the bacteria.
"We probably need to find out a little bit more about who may be running around with a MRSA colonization before we do anything," he said. "But I think there is some indication that decolonization may be worthwhile."
He says decolonization is when medical treatments are used to wash the MRSA bacteria from the skin and nasal passages. He also says that some states and hospital systems require MRSA testing for patients before hospital admission; more testing may be worthwhile.