An aggressive strain of the common staph infection – also known as MRSA – is popping up around Columbus.

The infectious critter is a strain of staphylococcus aureus bacteria that is resistant to most antibiotics, drugs used to kill bacteria or slow their growth. MRSA infections are most commonly seen in health care facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes. Recently, however, cases have been reported in Columbus residents who have not had recent exposure to these health -care facilities.

MRSA is considered a class C infection and is not on the Ohio Department of Health’s list of reportable diseases. This is because class C infections are “innocent until proven guilty”: The ill are screened and asked to have limited contact with others until the test results come back. If positive, more intense treatment and quarantine measures are taken while results negative for a disease, provide patients more lenient control.

The disease is, however, on Ohio Department of Health’s list of diseases of public health concern needing timely response, because outbreaks of MRSA have been reported to Ohio Department of Health and an epidemic spread has been established, according to documents from the Ohio Department of Health’s public affairs office.

Kristopher Weiss, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health, said that in instances which more than two people who can be associated with each other contract the infection, the Ohio Department of Health considers this a community outbreak.

“We’ve had outbreaks reported since 2002,” Weiss said. “As many as 73 cases in one community was reported.”

Part of the problem with infections like MRSA is that the organism can become resistant to antibiotics, Weiss said. Resistance to drugs occurs because they are specific to only a small group of organisms – large numbers are initially killed off, but if a mutated strain is left, then it might continue to grow and cause problems.

“Antibiotic resistance is an issue for all public health,” Weiss said.

Weiss said there are things the public can do to lessen the problems associated with antibiotic-resistant strains of infections.

“People shouldn’t demand antibiotics as treatment for things like colds,” Weiss said. “Take the whole course of antibiotics, don’t take antibiotics prescribed to other people, and don’t demand antibiotics for your child if the doctor says they won’t help.”

MRSA is being seen in a number of patients at a Columbus nursing home and long-term-care facility. One nursing aide, who asked to remain anonymous because of law regulations, said that the nursing home he works for sees a lot of patients with MRSA transferred from hospitals.

“People get it in the hospital and we treat them for it at the nursing home with very specific types of antibiotics,” the aide said.

One Columbus family experienced MRSA first hand. David Davis got MRSA after battling another infection and not long after his wife, Christy, and his four-year-old son contracted the MRSA infection.

“David got some sort of infection and did not take a complete course of his antibiotics,” Christy Davis said. “He had a boil on his knee and they lanced it and that’s when he found out it was MRSA. We had never heard of it.”

Davis said the family went to an infectious-diseases doctor two or three times and did not feel like they were getting any answers. The family was still getting boils and the antibiotics they were being prescribed were not working.

The family heard that the Cleveland Clinic was a good place to get treatment for MRSA.

“They gave us Bactrim and we are fine now,” Davis said. Bactrim is an antibiotic that blocks critical pathways in MRSA-causing bacteria and starves them for essential nutrients.

Though treatment is relatively simple, Davis said public knowledge about MRSA is very low.

“I don’t think everyone is educated about it,” Davis said.

Davis said she was ostracized at work, and her son was kept away from his friends because others in the community did not know anything about the infection.

“You feel very discriminated against,” Davis said. “I can’t even say how many days I cried when I had it.”