Is It Symptoms of MRSA or a Spider Bite?

MRSA symptoms can vary depending on where you have been infected. More often than not, the MRSA will appear as a skin infection that will look like a boil or an abscessed sore. It can also infect a surgical wound. In either case, it will be red, swollen; puss filled and can be very painful.

I can attest to these MRSA symptoms and especially it being painful. While serving in the Marines during my early twenties, I noticed a small red bump on my knee. With in two days, my knee was swollen to three times the normal size and was beet red. It was so painful that I was unable to walk. Thanks to an observant intern, he recognized this as MRSA symptoms. Once admitted to the hospital, the doctor treated the MRSA staph infection with antibiotics which took nine days to heal enough to return to light duty.

I can see why many people who have a skin infection can easily mistake MRSA symptoms for a spider bite. If a staph infection infects the lungs, it can cause pneumonia and can cause shortness of breath, fever and chills.

MRSA is capable of causing many other symptoms since it can infect the urinary tract as well as the bloodstream.

Staph can also result in necrotizing fascistic or “flesh-eating” bacterial infections. Thought this is rare, these are very serious skin infections that spread very quickly.

In most cases, MRSA is easily treated. But since this infection can be serious or deadly, though rarely, do not ignore signs of MRSA symptoms. People who are ill or have a lower immune system are at a higher risk of getting this infection. It can’t be stressed enough to always be alert and watchful for MRSA symptoms.