For the past month, the UW’s Hall Health Primary Care Center has seen an increase in the number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cases. While most infections are referred to as Staph and can be treated with antibiotics, infections immune to these normally-used antibiotics are labeled MRSA infections.

Since data collection for MRSA cases started in December 2007, there has been an average of one to two cases per month. As of Sept. 16, there have been six cases. While this may be a small number, it represents a 200 percent increase.

MRSA is primarily transmitted through skin-to-skin contact or contact with items that have been touched by someone else’s infection.

“Anyplace where there’s large groups of people in relatively close contact or large groups of people [using] common equipment, there’s a high chance of MRSA spreading,” director of Hall Health David Dugdale said.

The increase in infections reflects increases elsewhere, Dugdale said.

National statistics also portray an increase in MRSA cases. The proportion of infections in intensive-care units due to MRSA has increased from 2 percent in 1974, to 22 percent in 1995, to 64 percent in 2004, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The increase on campus may also correspond to students returning to school.

“[Students] may have forgotten the importance of good hand washing and cleaning communal spaces such as showers, sinks and counter tops,” UW associate medical director Jean Haulman said.

MRSA exists in two ways: people may either have an active infection, or they can be a carrier with the MRSA bacteria living on their skin or in their nose.

Symptoms of an active infection include sores resembling spider bites; large, red and sore bumps under the skin (boils); cuts that are swollen and filled with puss; and blisters filled with fluid. Some may also experience fever and chills.

Those who think they may have MRSA should contact a health care provider. They can help by draining the infection, prescribing antibiotics effective against MRSA or reducing the amount of bacteria on the skin. It’s important to not drain the infection yourself. Squeezing or poking the infection can actually push the bacteria further into the skin, worsening the problem.

Reach reporter Joy Yagi at news@dailyuw.com.