One of my friends thinks he has MRSA.

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Yep!! I'm pretty much sure he'll be fine, but if he became ill I'd feel so terrible for him...! I mean, it was ME who asked HIM to come to hospital!

There was a sort of epidemic of it here in the local school systems a few years ago and three of my four kids got it. They were fine. They stayed home from school (school's orders because of the epidemic, not doctors) for a couple of days, took antibiotics, and we kept the places clean with frequent bandage changes. They had no problems at all from it.

As other posters said, I'd worry only if the person was immunosuppressed or their immune system was otherwise compromised.

Thanks!

MRSA is dangerous because it's an antibiotic-resistant strain of staph bacteria. Staph bacteria are very common and most everybody has been exposed and can fight off an infection. But in a hospital, with immunocompromised patients, if your friend has an active infection he'll need to be quarantined so it can't spread. That could be dangerous for anybody whose body isn't able to fight it. MRSA in a hospital is a pretty big, pretty dangerous problem. The doctors are being smart to check for it.

Here, if you want more info--
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0004520/

In the UK though, NHS hospitals are often a complete breeding ground for MRSA and other bugs. It's a huge problem here and has been for years. Our hospitals are so unsanitary that it is often advised to go private if you have the money. Which is why I made the comments about Spanish hospitals.

Yeah, it's just difficult to stop the spread of something so small in a place with so many people in it. The nursing students I've talked to say that they are drilled over and over and over on basic hygiene, going so far as to have lessons on how to wash their hands properly. And even with all that, things still slip through the cracks. There has to be a solution, but for the life of me I can't figure out what it might be.

I think it depends on the area, to be honest. It's a bit of a lottery. Our area isn't too bad, but I've heard of other places down south where the cleaning has gone out to contract companies it's more of a problem. It's here to stay though, as most of the population carries it, all they can do is try to minimise the impact as much as humanly possible.

I'm a paramedic, and we transport MRSA positive folks fairly frequently. We wear gloves and aprons, make sure we wash and gel our hands and clean any surfaces that the patient may have come in contact with thoroughly with an approved cleaner, as well as the rest of the vehicle.

The other folks are right though, MRSA is only really a problem if you're immunocompromised. A healthy person with no open wounds will be fine, it just sounds like the hospital are taking the control of infection side of things very seriously. That can only be a good thing for patients

I was just going to say the same thing. There is also a difference of the severity of MRSA depending how you got it. Most people get it from every day contact with people and that's called community acquired MRSA. Then there is the kind that comes from the nasty looking wounds people can get in the hospital by nurses and doctors not washing their hands or using the hand sanitizer. ALWAYS insist that any medical professional washes their hands or uses hand sanitizer in front of you so you know for sure they are clean.