MMRSA Guide
Microscopic illustration of MRSA (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria
Reference · Staph infection · Spread

Is a staph infection contagious?

Yes — but by contact, not through the air, and only when the bacteria find a way through skin. That distinction decides everything practical: what to cover, what not to share, and when school, work and sport are fine again.

Written by David Roberts, editor · Updated

Checked against current CDC and IDSA guidance. Not medically reviewed. How we source this

The short answer

Staphylococcus aureus spreads on hands, on skin-to-skin contact and on shared objects. An open or draining lesion is the most contagious thing in the house; a covered, dry, healing one is low risk. Sitting in the same room, sharing air or eating at the same table does not transmit an ordinary staph skin infection.

The same rules apply whether the strain is ordinary staph or MRSA. Resistance changes the treatment, not the way it travels.

How it actually passes between people

  • Hands. The dominant route. Touching a lesion or its dressing, then touching someone else's broken skin.
  • Skin-to-skin contact. Wrestling, rugby, childcare, caring for a relative, intimacy.
  • Shared items. Towels, flannels, razors, bar soap, bedding, sports kit, gym benches and mats.
  • Surfaces as a relay. Staph survives days to weeks on dry surfaces, then travels onward on hands — survival times by material.
  • Carriage. Nose and skin colonisation with no symptoms — what colonisation means.

What it does not do is behave like a respiratory virus. See is staph and MRSA airborne for where the exceptions sit.

How long someone stays infectious

StateRisk to others
Open, draining lesionHighest. Cover it and keep discharge contained.
Covered lesion, on treatmentMuch lower, but not zero — hand hygiene still matters.
Dry and healedLow. Normal contact can resume.
Carrier with no lesionOngoing but small; only matters around broken skin or in hospital.

Household, school, work and sport

  • Home. Separate towels, hot laundry, daily wipe of high-touch surfaces, dressings bagged straight away — full household guidance.
  • School and childcare. Impetigo means staying away until the sores have crusted and healed, or 48 hours of antibiotics have been completed. A covered boil in a well child is usually fine.
  • Work. Generally fine if the lesion is covered and not leaking. Food handling, healthcare and childcare roles have stricter local rules.
  • Sport. No contact sport, shared mats or shared equipment with an open lesion — gyms and locker rooms.
  • Hospital. Contact precautions, gowns and gloves and sometimes a single room — precautions and isolation explained.

If you think you have been exposed

There is nothing to take preventively. Wash the area with soap and water, cover any break in the skin, and watch it for three to five days. A red bump that grows and hurts more each day should be seen — the appearance is described on what a staph infection looks like, and treatment on antibiotics for a staph skin infection.

Frequently asked questions

Is a staph infection contagious?
Yes, by contact. Staphylococcus aureus passes on skin-to-skin touch, on hands, and on shared objects such as towels, razors, bedding, dressings and gym equipment. It is not spread through the air in ordinary daily life, and being in the same room as someone with a staph boil is not itself a risk.
How long is a staph infection contagious?
An open or draining lesion should be treated as contagious until it is dry, healing and covered — often several days into treatment. Because roughly one in three people carry staph harmlessly in the nose and on the skin without any lesion, someone can also pass it on indefinitely without ever being ill.
Is a staph infection contagious after starting antibiotics?
Risk falls once effective treatment starts and the lesion stops discharging, but it does not vanish on the first dose. Keep the wound covered, wash hands after dressing changes and avoid sharing towels or bedding for the whole course.
Can you catch a staph infection from someone else?
Yes, but the bacteria still need a way in. Intact skin is a strong barrier; transmission usually requires a cut, graze, shaved skin, eczema, a wound or a medical device on the person receiving it. That is why the same contact can leave one person unaffected and give another a boil.
Is a staph infection contagious through kissing or sex?
Close skin-to-skin contact can pass staph on, so intimacy is a plausible route when either person has an open lesion. It is not classed as a sexually transmitted infection; the mechanism is contact with skin and secretions rather than the sexual act itself.
Can staph spread through the air?
Not in the way colds and flu do. Staph can be detected in air around heavily colonised people and shaken bedding, but ordinary skin infections are managed as contact spread. Airborne concerns belong to specific hospital settings and to staph pneumonia.
Should a child with a staph infection stay off school?
For impetigo, UK guidance is to stay away until the sores have crusted and healed or until 48 hours of antibiotic treatment have been completed. For a boil or infected wound, a child can usually attend if the lesion is fully covered by a dressing that keeps discharge contained and they are otherwise well — check with the school or clinician.
Can I go to work with a staph infection?
Usually yes, if the lesion is covered, not discharging through the dressing and you feel well. Jobs involving food handling, patient care, childcare or close-contact sport have stricter rules and may require you to be off until it has healed — ask your occupational health service.
How do I stop staph spreading in my house?
Keep the lesion covered, wash hands with soap after touching it or its dressings, bag used dressings straight away, do not share towels, flannels, razors or bedding, wash the affected person's laundry on the hottest cycle the fabric allows and dry it fully, and wipe high-touch surfaces daily while the infection is active.

Symptoms hub

Overview of MRSA symptoms and day-by-day progression.

What does MRSA look like?

Bumps, boils, abscesses and cellulitis — every visual form.

MRSA rash

Does MRSA cause a rash? Look-alikes and how to tell them apart.

MRSA in the nose

Nasal carriage vs infection, swab testing and mupirocin treatment.

MRSA skin infection

Types, diagnosis, treatment, and when skin MRSA becomes dangerous.

MRSA boil

Deep, painful, pus-filled lumps and how they are drained.

MRSA cellulitis

Spreading deeper-skin infection and urgent warning signs.

MRSA folliculitis

Small pus-filled bumps around hair follicles and prevention.

MRSA pneumonia

Hospital, ventilator-associated and necrotising lung infection.

MRSA bacteremia

MRSA in the bloodstream — how it gets there and how it's treated.

MRSA sepsis

Can MRSA cause sepsis? Warning signs and survival rates.

Invasive MRSA

How MRSA reaches the bloodstream, lungs and bone.

MRSA test

PCR nasal swab, wound culture and susceptibility testing.

MSSA vs MRSA

Same bacterium, different antibiotic susceptibility.

Staph infection vs pimple

How to tell a normal pimple from a staph or MRSA skin lesion.

MRSA colonization

Carriers, nasal swabs, how long carriage lasts and when it is treated.

MRSA UTI

MRSA in the urinary tract — catheters, symptoms and treatment.

MRSA ICD-10 codes

B95.62, A49.02, Z22.322 and the sequencing rules for coders.

Scalded skin syndrome

The staph toxin illness that makes a child's skin blister and peel.

Can MRSA kill you?

Death rates by infection type, who is at risk and the warning signs.

Staph infection

Staphylococcus aureus infection overall — symptoms, spread and treatment.

What does a staph infection look like?

Every form on the skin, stage by stage, and the look-alikes.

Antibiotics for a staph skin infection

Which drugs cover staph and MRSA, course lengths and allergy options.

References
  1. CDC. Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA: how it spreads and prevention (2024)
  2. NHS. Staphylococcal infections (2023)
  3. NHS. Impetigo — when to stay off school (2023)
  4. Kramer A. et al., BMC Infectious Diseases. How long do nosocomial pathogens persist on inanimate surfaces? (2006)
Related