Most of us carry staph bacteria on our skin, but it isn't dangerous. MSRA, on the other hand, is. It is noted for presenting around the nostril or skin penetrations and is proving to be resistant to all the treatments we usually use for such problems.

Warnings have been issued for years that the medical profession was over prescribing antibiotics. So what? Well, the concern was the fact that bacteria mutate repeatedly, which led to the concern that one would evolve a resistant to the usual treatments.

If this occurred, the concern was that we would have no means to stop such infections. The logical conclusion to such cases would be death of the patient. In short, such a bug could wipe out huge swaths of the population of the world.

The scary news is MSRA appears to potentially be such a bacteria or at least the precursor to one. The bug has proven to be very resistant to our most useful antibiotics including penicillin, methicillin, and cephalosporins.

Why can't we tell? The problem is the medical profession around the world. Some areas are less familiar with MSRA than others. As a result, it could be killing many, but being misdiagnosed as other things.

How big an impact is MSRA making in the USA now? A 2005 study found that it was responsible for more deaths than were caused for the same year by AIDS. Think about that for a minute. Pretty scary, eh?

MSRA has presented in very specific locations. As reported in the media, it tends to breakout in hospitals, nursing homes and gyms. There have been isolated cases in schools as well. There has been no reported general breakout in workplaces or the general public.

Most of us have a less serious form of staph on our skin. It carries little risk for us. If it evolves into MSRA or is replaced by it, the health risk would be beyond serious. We could literrally be wiped out in a few months.