Methicillin Resistant Staph Infections in Dermatology

The purpose of this lecture is for us to work together to practice good antimicrobial stewardship given the continued rise in resistant skin and ear infections. We will work towards understanding the types and clinical signs of pyoderma, discuss the principles of antimicrobial resistance including methicillin resistance, multi-drug resistance, and the risk factors for these. We will briefly recap the importance of cytology and the different methods used. We will discuss the different ways to obtain culture and sensitivity samples, how to select a laboratory for processing skin cultures, and how to interpret culture results. Finally, we will go over the various topical therapies for MRSP/MRSS as well as the systemic therapy that may be needed for these cases.