MRSA has been featured in the news a great deal recently. MRSA stands for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. This bacteria causes “staph” infections that are resistant to treatment with usual antibiotics. MRSA occurs most frequently among patients who undergo invasive medical procedures or who have weakened immune systems and are being treated in hospitals and healthcare facilities such as nursing homes and dialysis centers. MRSA in healthcare settings commonly causes serious and potentially life-threatening infections, such as bloodstream infections, surgical site infections, or pneumonia. In addition to healthcare associated infections, MRSA can also infect people in the community at large, generally as skin infections that may look like pimples or boils and can be swollen, painful and have draining pus. These skin infections often occur in otherwise healthy people.

MRSA and the Expensive Results of Antimicrobial Resistance
Along with MRSA, many significant infection-causing bacteria in the world are becoming resistant to the most commonly prescribed antimicrobial treatments. Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria change or adapt in a way that allows them to survive in the presence of antibiotics designed to kill them. In some cases bacteria become so resistant that no available antibiotics are effective against them. People infected with antibiotic-resistant organisms like MRSA are more likely to have longer and more expensive hospital stays, and may be more likely to die as a result of the infection. When the drug of choice for treating their infection doesn’t work, they require treatment with second- or third-choice medicines that may be less effective, more toxic and more expensive.

MRSA: a Growing Problem in the Healthcare Setting
MRSA is becoming more prevalent in healthcare settings. According to CDC data, the proportion of infections that are antimicrobial resistant has been growing. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for two percent of the total number of staph infections; in 1995 it was 22%; in 2004 it was 63%.

MRSA, Antibiotic Resistance and Microcyn
Antibiotic resistance has become a major healthcare problem in treating many hospitalized and outpatient individuals. It is particularly problematic in diabetic foot ulcers. Specifically, MRSA pathogens associated with diabetic foot ulcers have shown increasing incidence, and as a result, increased hospital stay and costs, poorer clinical outcomes with higher amputation rates and higher mortality rates.

The antibiotic, Vancomycin is increasingly less effective against MRSA, resulting in the emergence of new antibiotics that are expensive and have significant risks. Clearly, any local topical solution that would have excellent efficacy versus MRSA and other bacterial and nonbacterial pathogens with minimal complications would offer a potential significant improvement over the current treatments for wound infection and wound healing. 

While antibiotics can treat systemic narrow-spectrum infections, they are ineffective in treating a broad spectrum of pathogens, as well as no ability to reach wound sites with limited or no blood flow, such as diabetic foot ulcers. 

In a 218-patient Italian study published in the peer-review journal Wounds, the Microcyn Technology demonstrated that it was effective and safe for the treatment of infected foot lesions. The control group of povidone iodine had local adverse effects, such as a skin rash or an allergy, in 16.7% of its patients.  However, in the patients in the Micorcyn test group showed no local adverse effects. 

Bacterial strains isolated from the ulcers of patients in both the povidone iodine and Microcyn groups were similar at entry.  However, in the samples taken following treatment, there were fewer cultures for all these types of bacteria, including MRSA, S aureus, Stretopcoccus sp, P aeruginosa, in the Microcyn group.  Patients in the Microcyn group also healed 12 days faster than those patients in the control group.