At random times throughout the year, parts of Ingham Regional Medical Center get cultured for Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus or MRSA. The bacteria has been known to be in hospitals for more than forty years. But it's a relatively new strain that's causing concern for doctors -- a community acquired strain that, contains the toxin PVL.

"That makes it more virulent, in that, it can cause destruction of normal tissue. It can cause necrosis or dead tissue to form," explains Dr. Peter Gulick, Infectious Disease.

He says everyone has colonies of Staph Epi on their skin. While it's not harmful, MRSA can be. And now it's beginning to take on characteristics of Staph Epi -- primarily the ability to colonize on skin.

"Often times what happens is there's some break in the skin that allows the organism to get in and cause that skin infection," Ingham County Health Deptartment's Dr. Dean Sienko says.

MRSA, is resistant to drugs like penicillin and amoxicillin, but other antibiotics like tetracycline and bactrim are effective. Not only that, but as far as the bacteria's concerned, Dr. Gulick says, "Most people don't even know they've got it. They don't even know they're carrying it. Many times you can have it and not have any problems."