Joe was a construction worker. He worked construction for years and never suffered a serious injury or illness, until that day. After years of banged thumbs, skinned knees and scraped elbows, he never suspected that nail he stepped on was much to worry about. He was wrong. With the force of a load of bricks falling from a second story scaffold, Joe's episode with a little, dirty nail changed his life forever.

"Oh, it's just a scratch", Joe said as he pulled the nail still attached to a board from his foot. "You guys need to pick up after yourselves better so things like this don't happen", he commented as he threw the board in with the rest of the waste, and kept on working. It was a common incident and something Joe was used to. It was just part of the job. What Joe did not know was that he was now infected with MRSA, or Methicillin-Resistant Staphyllococcus Aureus, the Necrotizing Bacteria.

In the past, serious Staph infections were limited to hospitals and hospitals situations, and most were treatable with only 20% of the hospital acquired infections proving to be more resistant to antibiotics. Recently, however, serious Staph infections have found their way into the community and are showing up, among other places, on construction sites.

When Joe got home that night, he took off his boot and looked at his injury. It appeared normal, so he washed it, dressed it and gave it no more thought. The wound did not heal. As the weeks passed, the lesion grew and took on a black color, giving off an unusual odor. The pain and swelling now made Joe walk with a limp.

Common Staphyllococcus Aureus is present on the skin and in the noses of most people. It usually does not present a problem. Normally, it may cause some minor skin infections ranging from acne to boils, and is usually treatable with antibiotics. Sometimes, it can cause more serious infections when it enters through a cut or other wound as it did with Joe. In this new strain, however, the genes have mutated and developed resistance to most common treatments and may lead to a condition known as "Necrotizing Fasciitis" where the skin and all the tissue around the wound site start to die off. This strain not only resists antibiotics, it grows and spreads.

By the time Joe found his way to the doctor, it was too late to save his foot. It had to be amputated. The infection was so severe, this became just the first of a number of amputations. Soon, instead of just fighting

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