People worry about getting staph infections, and you hear about these on the news. Staph, MRSA, and flesh-eating bacteria are all big fear tactics on the nightly news. However, it's important to know that there is some truth to the scary information that's out there. People really can and do die from staph infections – just not that often. To keep yourself safe you need to practice good hygiene, treat cuts and scrapes promptly, and go to the doctor if you have a wound that looks infected and/or is not healing well. It's not just staph you need to be concerned about, though, because there are other 'superbugs' out there, as well. These include the ones that cause tuberculosis, as well as Enterococcus and Pseudomonas.

They became superbugs because bacteria evolve very quickly due to their multiplication rates. They might not all be killed by an antibiotic, and those that survive build up a resistance, or an immunity to that antibiotic. They'll need another or a stronger antibiotic to kill them, and in the meantime they can cause serious problems for anyone who comes into contact with them. That's true of the Strep bacteria, as well, but scientists are working on a vaccine for that one that shows promise in mice and that doesn't seem to have any serious side effects.

When it comes to understanding where these kinds of bacteria come from and how they evolve, humans have unfortunately had a hand in that. Every time a person is given an antibiotic for an infection, there is the potential for resistance and mutation of the bacteria that medication is trying to kill. When antibiotics are given out too easily and too often – for small infections that would have generally resolved themselves – there is greater potential for mutation and strengthening of bacteria. Fewer antibiotics need to be given out and better hygiene needs to be practiced in order to help ensure that these staph bacteria and the others that are similar don't continue to evolve into something that is a serious threat to a large segment of society simply because people have been trying to keep them at bay.