The Infectious Diseases Society of America recently issued its first set of comprehensive guidelines for treating methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Guidelines were developed for clinicians who treat adults and pediatric patients. They detail methods for treating and preventing infections, including topics such as personal hygiene, wound care, antibiotic therapy and other options in the event that vancomyacin (a powerful antibiotic) does not work. They also address increasingly common MRSA-related skin and soft-tissue infections.

The guidance offers recommendations for community- and hospital-based infections, as well as how to treat minor and severe cases.

Because doctors say they are starting to see many more cases of skin and soft-tissue cases of MRSA, the guidelines offer more specifics on which antibiotics to use, and when.

MRSA infections account for about 60% of the skin infections presented to emergency rooms. MRSA infections also result in 18,000 deaths per year, according to the magazine Internal Medicine News.

The new guidelines were published in the Feb. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.