You've probably heard of staph infection, but did you know there is a particular staph that resists antibiotics. It's called MRSA and does show up in the Eastern Sierra communities.

Inyo-Mono Health Officer Dr. Rick Johnson explained that MRSA stands for Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus. Dr. Johnson said, "Staph is the most common bacteria that we carry on our skin. People have had staph infections for many years, but more recently a lot of the staph infections have become resistant to the usual drugs used to treat them."

Johnson said the infections are not necessarily more serious, but when you do get one the chance of the infection being treatable by an antibiotic is less than it used to be.

To help identify what might be MRSA, Dr. Johnson recommends that if you get what looks like a spider bite, a boil or a redness that surrounds a cut, you ought to seek medical care earlier.

The bottom line – any redness, or boil or swelling ought to be looked at by a medical provider.

Other medical sources say that MRSA is spread mostly by direct skin to skin contact with an infected person or from touching surfaces that have staph on them from someone else's infection. The easiest way to prevent MRSA and staph infections? Hand washing.