15 Household Items That Can Make You Sick

MRSA is an antibiotic-resistant, potentially dangerous type of staph bacteria. This infection-producing organism can be picked up by coming into direct contact with another person’s infection, sharing items like towels or razors that have touched infected skin, or touching other items and surfaces contaminated with MRSA. This strain has become tougher to treat over the years, and if it enters the body, like through a cut, it can cause skin infections (the usual manifestation) or, less common but more serious, wound infections or pneumonia.

Again, elderly individuals and those with a weakened immune system are at the highest risk of getting an MRSA staph infection, but more and more, medical researchers have found the bacteria in everyday settings, like daycares and among athletic teams, and its ability to survive on surfaces for weeks only increases a person’s chances of contracting it. Cleaning cuts and scrapes as well as not sharing items are easy, but effective ways to prevent spreading the MRSA bacterium.