The common name for the infection caused Staphylococcus bacteria is “Staph Infection”. This is what we lay people know it to be. Essentially Staphylococcus bacteria are harmless, but they catch you in the wrong place at the wrong time they can be lethal. Many people get Staph infections and hardly know they are infected.
As with much medical terminology, Staphylococcus is a word whose source lies in Greek, Staphyle and Kokkos; the former being a bunch of grapes and the latter; berries. It is so named because this is what these bacteria look like under microscopic scrutiny.
For those of you with a more scientific bent, it is gram-positive, facultative anaerobic unencapsulated cocci. Don’t try to say that when you have had a few drinks. To understand these a little better we don’t need to know the scientific stuff.
What we do need to know however is that there are over 30 varieties of this bacteria, and 20% – 30% of healthy people walk around with this naturally occurring on their skin and inside their noses.
It also occurs on other parts of the body, but is more rare. Generally speaking they do not cause illness unless the skin is broken by an injury and they invade the site of the injury, multiplying and causing infection.
Much like any other illness some people are more prone to these infections than others. Staph infections are a danger to newborn babies, feeding mothers, people with illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and lung disease and people who make use of intravenous drugs, for recreational or other purposes.
It can also affect people who have weak immune systems and people who have had surgery, but virtually anyone is able to contract a staph infection.
The most common infections of this nature affect the skin, and these can be mild or severe. The site affected by Staphylococcus becomes inflamed, red and generally pus filled. It is also responsible for food poisoning in some instances, mastitis, TSS, and other illnesses, but this is generally only after the bacteria have managed to invade the blood-stream.