Hi, I am huskerjock's fiancee and I am in the medical field. Rawhide is correct in stating that one of the main causes of MRSA is the overuse of antibiotics for illnesses that don't require them, i.e. viral illnesses such as colds, ear infections, sinus infections, bronchitis, sore throats that aren't strep throats, viral stomach flu, and on and on. Most illnesses that we visit the doctor for are often viral. Viral illnesses usually resolve on their own in a week or two. It is not until after a couple weeks of a viral infection not resolving that it could actually transition into a bacterial infection. Antibiotics work against bacteria and not viruses....yet doctors often will give patients antibiotics for viral illnesses because they want a quick fix to get the patient out of their hair or they do it because if they don't, the patient goes away feeling that they didn't receive proper care if they left without receiving a prescription for some kind of pill. We can all do ourselves a favor by going to the doctor when we are sick and if they try to give us an antibiotic for something that might be viral just NOT filling the prescription unless you notice the illness not resolving within a couple of weeks. MRSA that is acquired in the community, which is the case here with BRI, is becoming very common unfortunately. Areas that come into contact with the skin of multiple people are huge harbors for possible MRSA infections i.e. public gyms, locker rooms, wrestling mats, tanning beds, public showers, etc. This shouldn't deter us from using these facilities....we just need to be cautious if we have any areas of open skin whether from razor burn, hangnail, ingrown hair, a cut, etc. because the tiniest opening can get infected as BRI has experienced. If we cannot avoid these facilities when we have openings in our skin, then we should keep them covered during contact with any infected surfaces and immediately clean them when we leave. As far as the treatment for MRSA, some milder cases can be treated by cutting open the wound and draining it and placing on an oral antibiotic (because MRSA is a BACTERIA)such as Bactrim. Other more serious cases require IV antibiotics, such as vancomycin, for months. The best thing is to get the wound open in order for the body to discharge the pus that is harborring the bacteria and then to complete the course of the antibiotic so the medicine can get in the blood which will circulate to the site of the wound and help to heal it. Other antibiotics that are possible IV treatments of MRSA are linezolid and daptomycin....both are really $$$$$$ expensive and are saved for last resort if the vancomycin or Bactrim don't work. Good luck BRI with your treatment. (sorry everyone for the novel)