According to the Annals of Emergency Medicine, online issue December 8, 2005, hospitals should be more on the lookout for antibiotic resistant germs when patients come to the ER for skin and soft tissue infections.

137 patients were studied from several different hospitals. MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, was present in 51% of infection site cultures. The study included health and lifestyle questionnaires that might allow Doctors to better predict which types of patients were more likely to have MRSA infections by lifestyle and wound types. It also catalogued the types of antibiotic resistance the organisms presented and to which of the newer types of antibiotics they were the most vulnerable.

While the study produced data that may be helpful to ER physicians, it also stated that 'studies from other practice settings are needed.' The study did not make any recommendations for lay-people, but this author is now going to start reaching for the Mercurochrome even for seemingly minor cuts or skin injuries.