[Pathogenetic significance of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in chronic wounds]

The colonisation and infection with methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) represent an interdisciplinary problem especially in the treatment of chronic wounds. To prevent medical wound-healing centres of becoming vectors for further epidemics it makes sense to take regular bacterial smears of all patients with chronic wounds to identify, isolate and treat patients with MRSA colonisation or infection. Especially infections should only be treated after microbiological diagnostics had been done to allow systemic treatment with antibiotics in accordance with the specific resistances. Otherwise the uncritical use of broad-spectrum- or reserve-antibiotics supports the critical development of further resistances.