I should add "by those who have compromised immune systems."
and there are two types... the hospital strain and a newer one for the general population.

Definitely contagious and have seen it spread to other family members in the same family. Very very serious.
However two months ago my grown son a diabetic showned me a bump on his arm that he thought was in ingrown hair. Having seen this MRSA many time before my gut feeling was not the same as his. Within a hour the size of a dime and kept getting larger and harder. The next morning it was huge, hard and hurting very badly. So I popped it (of course covering myself completely)as this gunk is wicked. The next day the doctor prescribed the strongest antibiotics he knew of and let it be know that if that did not help he would have to come back and have the sore opened and packed with gauze. Sorry I don't recall the name of the antibiotics which is what you wanted to know. He was fortunate
and the pills worked for him but have seen in some folks where their immune system is so low or for one reason or another they had to have the sore opened, packed and be on the antibiotics.
One has to be so careful around this and use strong cleaning agents. Can't be too careful. Have seen this on the chin, buttocks, stomach, arm, leg, groin, thumb and big toe.
Just my 2 cents.
Granny

My mom contracted it while in a longterm care facility. From what we learned, it's a common issue in hospitals and other public institutions.

I remember reading an article about MRSA running rampant through the Los Angeles jail. Visitors were advised not to even touch handrails on stairs. The bad thing is that it's highly contagious and survives a long time on surfaces. MRSA could be on a grocery cart handle or gas pump. Depending on the strength of a person's immune system, it could have very few to serious symptoms.

With Mom, she had spots that looked like spider bites that were pretty red. I guess another symptom is a rash that looks like small bumps. After she was diagnosed, people were asked to wear surgical masks and were warned to wash their hands thoroughly when visiting her.

Here's some information on MRSA from the Mayo Clinic: What is MRSA

The biggest problem with it is that medical experts worry that it will become worse as more and more of us get our healthcare providers to prescribe antibiotics for us when they aren't really needed or effective. When we do this, our bodies buildup an immunity to the antibiotic being used, which requires us to be treated with even stronger antibiotics when we DO need them.

The whole concept of MRSA is that it is caused by is caused by a strain of staph bacteria that's become resistant to the antibiotics commonly used to treat ordinary staph infections.

My 102 year old step-grandfather seems to have MRSA living in his system, which means that every time he gets an open wound, the MRSA sets in and makes it harder to heal him. He also fears hospitalization, as he knows that EVERY time he is hospitalized, he will have an attack. Probably as a result of injections, catheterization, whatever opens his skin.

It's awful stuff.

We all have bacteria living in and on our bodies and in our environment. Using anti-bacterial products can also cause resistance in those bacteria. And I don't think there is much research going on right now on new antibiotics. I don't like taking antibiotics because they tend to kill beneficial bacteria along with the bad ones; and antibiotics don't do anything for viruses except cause the bacteria to become resistant. MRSA is only one consequence of overuse of antibiotics. And we won't even talk about antibiotics in our food supply along with the hormones.

Good point, Yonuh! That is getting to be pretty scary. I have been reading about antibiotics in dairy foods lately because there is a factory farm that is trying to move into the region and the local neighbor community members are starting to talk about water contamination.

Long story short, I have pretty much started to wonder whether I need to find sources to switch to only getting my daily products from organic suppliers. I DO only eat organic yogurt - which is a staple of my breakfast - but for the rest of my dairy products I have been buying the normal brands.

And of course, I love to buy my veggies from local organic farmers in the summer, but have no local sources the rest of the year...or for my meat.

The farmers here keep known lifestock for their own consumpsion.They know which hormones/antibiotics they used and have for many years had their freezers filled from the butcher who knows what they want..their own selected animal returned.

I can buy straight from the farm...