Final answer:
MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is a type of staph infection highly resistant to antibiotics such as methicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, and oxacillin. It can cause serious infections including skin infections, pneumonia and septicemia, affecting both healthcare-facility patients and the general public.
Step-by-step explanation:
The type of staph infection that is highly resistant to antibiotics is MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus). MRSA is a very dangerous strain of Staphylococcus aureus, often simply called "staph," which has developed resistance to various antibiotics including methicillin, amoxicillin, penicillin, and oxacillin. This strain is notorious for causing skin infections, pneumonia, septicemia, and infections of the bloodstream, urinary tract, and sites of injury, both in healthcare facilities and among the general public.
Since methicillin was designed to resist inactivation by ß-lactamases, MRSA represents a significant challenge in clinical settings due to its ability to resist all available ß-lactams. Because about one-third of the human population carries S. aureus without illness and approximately 6% of these can be MRSA, it poses a substantial risk to public health. Moreover, MRSA can lead to serious infections among different age groups, including young individuals who have not been hospitalized.
MRSA is considered one of the "superbugs" due to the imprudent use of antibiotics leading to bacterial resistance. The emergence of MRSA as a serious infectious disease, where MRSA-afflicted persons in healthcare facilities have an average age of 68, contrasts with an average age of 23 for those with community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), highlighting the broad impact of this resistant bacterium.