Introduction

Staphylococcal infections are a group of infections caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus. You may have heard them referred to as "staph infections".

Staph bacteria can cause a wide range of infections, from relatively minor skin infections such as Carbuncles , to more serious infections of the blood, lungsand heart.

There aremany typesof Staphylococci, but most infections are caused by a group called Staphylococcus aureus.

This group of bacteria includes meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) , which is resistant to certain antibiotics that are commonly used for staph infections, such as flucloxacillin.

It also includes PVL-Staphylococcus aureus,which produces a toxin called Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL), which kills infection-fighting white blood cells and can cause recurrent skin infections, such as boils and abscesses.

This page covers some of the main types of staph infection, including information on how theseinfections are spread and treated.

Content supplied by the NHS Website

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 28 Nov 2016