What Are the Treatments for Mrsa in an Infant?

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA bacteria, is in essence a "superbug" that is resistant to most antibiotics. Fortunately, a MRSA infection in an infant can most often be treated using newer antibiotics or by simply draining the fluid from the wound.

MRSA Infection Drug Treatments

• Infants with a MRSA infection are treated with specific antibiotics which have been determined by a lab test to kill the MRSA. These medicines include vancomycin, doxycycline, and clindamycin. Exceptions are tetracyclines or trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, which are not recommended for newborns.

Non-Medical Treatments

• Infants may also be treated by having the skin lesions drained after an incision has been made.

MRSA Carrier Treatments

• If an infant is a MRSA carrier, mupirocin antibiotic cream may also be used to destroy it from membrane colonization in mucous.

How Medicine is Administered

• Infants are often given antibiotics in the form of topical creams or orally in the form of liquid medicine.

Considerations

• Infants with MRSA are often treated more aggressively than other patients because their immune systems are weak.