Can MRSA come back?

This appears to be a new infection.

MRSA is an antibiotic resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus. My understanding is that this a normal resident of skin and noses of about 30% of people. There’s nothing extra virulent or aggressive about the Staph organism itself, the problem is that what starts out as an infection (from a cut or wound) doesn’t respond to antibiotics because of resistance, and thus what starts as a minor problem can run unabated.

Even with an aggressive course of effective antibiotics, I think it’s unlikely that an entire population of bacteria that survive in a such a diverse habitat (skin and nose) would be totally eliminated. My guess would be that your friend’s resident population of Staph. aureus is MRSA, and any future injury has the potential to be a problem. But that’s from a lay person.

I’d agree with @sys

Yes, it can

Thanks for your answers. I’m just very surprised that it can be so virulent a year later!

It’s not particularly virulent. Only 10% of the cells in a human body are actually human. The other 90% are bacteria. Staphylococcus is living on people in the millions and barely causes any problems at all. Compare that to botulism where 3 or 4 cells in your lung will kill you.

Virulent: definition.

This has been a public service message.

I meant persistent I guess.

My daughter had MRSA last year and we were told that she is now a carrier. We where also told that she should inform any medical professional that she had this in the past. When in the hospital, she was isolated and everyone had to wash when entering and leaving her room.