What is a staph / staff infection?

Because staph is pronounced staff, people also confuse the two words. There's no confusing the symptoms though, so let's take a look at what may be happening under your skin when you get this infection.

A staph infection is the common term for any of the staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Wow, now there's a mouthful. No wonder people call it a staff infection. Anyway, these bacterium live outside of our body on our skin, are usually well behaved. The problem begins when a skin break or cut occurs and these little germs crawl inside of you for a look around.

Most staph symptoms appear as pus-producing protuberances on the skin, but they can also form inside of the body and attach themselves to organs and such. There are some pretty common infections which include:

Folliculitis: A pus-filled series of bumps that form on hair follicles and are usually very itchy.

Boils: These nasty guys take root deeper in hair follicles and create large, painful, pus-filled bumps that usually appear on the face or neck.

Sties: An infection of the eyelash follicles which result in a painful and pus-filled red bump inside of the eyelid.

Impetigo: An infection that causes pus-filled blisters around the mouth and nose and is very common among children.

Abscesses: Infections that create pus-filled lesions internally and usually affect your organs.

Not content to corner the market on pus, staph infections are also the major cause of food poisoning, Toxic Shock Syndrome, osteomyelitis, mastics, endocarditis, and bacteria-based blood infections.

Although most of these are not life-threatening, people with HIV,or other immune system illnesses, may be at great risk as are people who are undergoing radiation therapy or cancer treatment, abuse steroids, share drug needles, or are very young or very old. There are other classes of people who are also at risk for serious consequences of staff infections so you should just resolve yourself to a trip to the doctor if you have any such symptoms.

Oddly enough a lot of staff infections occur while people are hospitalized. This is probably because hospitals are full of people who are particularly susceptible to staff and the bacteria that cause them hitchhike rides on the skin of hospital employees.

Many strains of staff infections have become immune to customary treatments. This is largely caused by people not completing the full treatment prescribed for staff infections and leaving the remaining bacteria in a toughened condition and immune to the drug that was used to kill their brothers and sisters.

As a result, you should always follow your medically prescribed treatment to the letter even if the symptoms disappear before you have completed taking your medication. Never use medication that was prescribed for one staff infection on another one unless directed to do so by your doctor.

You can reduce the risk by cleaning all open wounds immediately with a bacterial soap or lotion, washing your hands frequently, and avoiding skin-to-skin contact with people who are infected with a staff infection.