Skin infections due to Staphylococcus aureus can include the following:

Folliculitis is the least serious. A hair root (follicle) is infected, causing a slightly painful, tiny pimple at the base of a hair.

Impetigo consists of shallow, fluid-filled blisters that rupture, leaving honey-colored crusts. Impetigo may itch or hurt.

Abscesses (boils or furuncles) are warm, painful collections of pus just below the skin.

Cellulitis is infection of skin and the tissue just under it. Cellulitis spreads, causing pain and redness.

Toxic epidermal necrolysis and, in newborns, scalded skin syndrome are serious infections. Both lead to large-scale peeling of skin.
All staphylococcal skin infections are very contagious.

Breast infections (mastitis), which may include cellulitis and abscesses, can develop 1 to 4 weeks after delivery. The area around the nipple is red and painful. Abscesses often release large numbers of bacteria into the mother’s milk. The bacteria may then infect the nursing infant.

Pneumonia often causes a high fever, shortness of breath, and a cough with sputum that may be tinged with blood. Lung abscesses may develop. They sometimes enlarge and involve the membranes around the lungs and sometimes cause pus to collect (called an empyema). These problems make breathing even more difficult.

Bloodstream infection is a common cause of death in people with severe burns. Symptoms typically include a persistent high fever and sometimes shock.

Endocarditis can quickly damage heart valves, leading to heart failure (with difficulty breathing) and possibly death.

Osteomyelitis causes chills, fever, and bone pain. The skin and soft tissues over the infected bone become red and swollen, and fluid may accumulate in nearby joints.
PREVENTION
People can help prevent the spread of these bacteria by always thoroughly washing their hands with soap and water or applying an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

Some doctors recommend applying the antibiotic mupirocin inside the nostrils to eliminate staphylococci from the nose. However, because overusing mupirocin can lead to mupirocin resistance, this antibiotic is used only when people are likely to get an infection. For example, it is given to people before certain operations or to people who live in a household in which the skin infection is spreading.

If carriers of staphylococci need to have certain types of surgery, they are often treated with an antibiotic before the surgery.

People with a staphylococcal skin infection should not handle food.

In some health care facilities, people are routinely screened for MRSA when they are admitted. Some facilities screen only people who are at increased of getting an MRSA infection, such as those who are about to have certain operations. Screening involves testing a sample taken from the nose with a cotton swab. If MRSA are detected, people are isolated to prevent spread of the bacteria.
TREATMENT
Antibiotics

Sometimes surgical removal of infected bone and/or foreign material

Infections due to Staphylococcus aureus are treated with antibiotics. Doctors try to determine whether the bacteria are resistant to antibiotics and, if so, to which antibiotics.

Infection that is acquired in a hospital is treated with antibiotics that are effective against MRSA. They include vancomycin, linezolid, tedizolid, quinupristin plus dalfopristin, ceftaroline, telavancin, or daptomycin. If results of testing later indicate that the strain is susceptible to methicillin and the person is not allergic to penicillin, a drug related to methicillin, such as nafcillin or oxacillin is used. Depending on how severe the infection is, antibiotics may be given for weeks.

MRSA infection can be acquired outside of a health care facility. The community-acquired MRSA strains are usually susceptible to other antibiotics, such as trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, minocycline, or doxycycline, as well as to the antibiotics used to treat MRSA infections acquired in the hospital.

Mild skin infections due to MRSA, such as folliculitis, are usually treated with an ointment, such as one that contains bacitracin, neomycin, and polymyxin B (available without a prescription) or mupirocin (available by prescription only). If more than an ointment is required, antibiotics effective against MRSA are given by mouth or intravenously. Which antibiotic is used depends on the severity of the infection and the results of susceptibility testing.

If an infection involves bone or foreign material in the body (such as heart pacemakers, artificial heart valves and joints, and blood vessel grafts), rifampin and possibly another antibiotic are sometimes added to the antibiotic regimen. Usually, infected bone and foreign material has to be removed surgically to cure the infection.

Abscesses, if present, are usually drained
OTHER STAPHYLOCOCCAL INFECTIONS
Staphylococcus aureus produces an enzyme called coagulase. Other species of staphylococci do not and thus are called coagulase-negative staphylococci. These bacteria normally reside on the skin of all healthy people.

These bacteria, although less dangerous than Staphylococcus aureus, can cause serious infections, usually when acquired in a hospital. The bacteria may infect catheters inserted through the skin into a blood vessel or implanted medical devices (such as heart pacemakers or artificial heart valves and joints).

These bacteria are often resistant to many antibiotics. Vancomycin, which is effective against many resistant bacteria, is used, sometimes with rifampin. Medical devices, if infected, often must be removed.