Protect Yourself From MRSA and Other Infections
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Personal Hygiene

• Wash hands before preparing food, before eating, before and after touching wounds or bandages, after using the bathroom, after coughing/sneezing/blowing your nose, or whenever hands are visibly soiled.
• Shower daily – always after working out – dry off with your own clean towel and put on clean clothes.
• Do not share personal items, like towels, bar soap, wash cloths, razors, clothing or jars of ointment – even among family members.
• Use clothing or a towel as a barrier between skin and shared surfaces, like exercise equipment.

Hand Hygiene

• Wash with soap and water and scrub for at least 15 seconds. Dry with a clean cloth or paper towel, or forced warm air.
• An alcohol-based hand sanitizer containing 61% or more alcohol, like Purell®, may also be used to clean hands when soap and water aren’t available and hands aren’t visibly dirty.

Respiratory Hygiene

• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your shirt sleeve when sneezing or coughing.

Wound Care

• Keep wounds clean, dry and covered with a fresh bandage.
• Avoid touching other people’s wounds or soiled bandages.
• Throw away soiled bandages.
• Watch for signs of infection. If a cut or scrape becomes red, swollen, painful, warm to the touch, or starts draining pus, see a healthcare provider immediately.
• If wound drainage can’t be fully contained under a bandage, avoid close contact with others (work, school, sports activities) to prevent the spread of MRSA.

Antibiotics

• Use antibiotics only as directed by a healthcare provider.
• Don’t take antibiotics for viral infections, like colds and flu.
• Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed.
• Don’t save antibiotics for later or share them with others.

Laundry

• Wash clothes, towels and sheets in water (at hottest suitable temperature) with laundry detergent. Add bleach, if desired (check label instructions). Dry in a dryer at hottest suitable temperature – do not “line dry.”

Cleaning

• Clean and disinfect high-touch or soiled surfaces (for example, door knobs and phones frequently, and shared sports equipment between uses) according to item label cleaning instructions. Types of cleaning/disinfecting products include soap and water, diluted bleach, Lysol®, and Original Pine-Sol®. Follow label instructions for appropriate dilutions and contact times to be sure that surfaces are cleaned properly.