When a lot of people hear the phrase "staph infection," they typically think of an infection that comes from being in a hospital or something along those lines. Often times, this might be true because it such a Staphylococcus aureus is such a wide spread bacterium. Despite recent concerns over MRSA (methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus) a medicine-resistant strain of staph, treating a staph infection is actually relatively simple.

Skin Treatment

For a lot of more mild cases of staph, treating it can be done simply by using skin antibiotics and warm washes. When washing the body, it is important to use antibacterial cleansers and warm water. After drying the body off with a towel, immediately wash it and never reuse it. The bacteria that caused the infection will be on the towel and therefore, using it a second time would be unwise. After the person is dry, apply an antibacterial cream over the sores and then cover it in clean bandages.

Antibiotics

There are a considerable number of antibiotics that can be used to treat staph infections. So long as the strand of Staphylococcus aureus is not resistant to any of these antibiotics, a simple regimen of them will take care of the problem. Commonly used antibiotics are: nafcillin and cefazolin, but there are others that your doctor might choose to prescribe. It is important to use the drugs entirely and follow the schedule given to you by your doctor. While the sores might go away, the bacteria might not be gone and if you don't finish the entire dosage of antibiotics, the staph infection could come back, but this time, immune to that specific antibiotic.

Surgical

In some instances when the staph infection is really bad, the doctor might suggest a surgical approach. In this approach, a doctor actually opens up the sores and drain the pus out of them. In other cases, the doctors will surgically remove the areas that have an infection such as an intravenous line. Any tissue sites that continue to shed the infection will, often times, simply be removed to ease any complications. A person who goes this approach will still have to use antibiotics after the surgery.

Source:

Kid's Health: Staph Infections

eMedicineHealth: Staph Infection Symptoms, Signs, Causes, and Treatments