Regular staph kills more babies than 'superbugs', study finds

Ordinary staph infections are just as likely to kill newborn babies as infections caused by a superbug, researchers reported Monday. It's a reminder that garden-variety infections are dangerous, too, Dr. Brian Smith of the Duke University school of medicine and colleagues reported. They surveyed 48 neonatal intensive care units around the United States from 1997 through 2012 and found most staph infections — 72 percent of them — caused by ordinary Staphylococcus aureus germs. Just 28 percent were caused by the headline-generating methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA. In fact, more babies die from drug-susceptible staph than from MRSA.