Researchers reporting Tuesday say, cases of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant bacterial infection have been rising 90% since 1999, increasingly being acquired outside hospitals.

Two new strains of (MRSA) were found to be circulating in patients, strains which were different from the one’s normally seen in hospitals.

Fully entrenched in U. S. hospitals, MRSA is also known to be circulating in the community, however, it is unclear as to whether patients carry the infections out of hospitals, or bring them to the hospitals.

One of the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections, MRSA can be easily picked up in schools, at fitness centres and elsewhere, now.

It is estimated 20,000 people die from MRSA every year in the United States, with symptoms for the disease ranging from abscesses to blood borne infections that kill quickly. Costs for treating MRSA range from $3,000 to over $35,000 per case.

The study published in the December issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases reports, the community-associated strain of MRSA, the infection-causing bacteria that is now resistant to most common antibiotics, poses a far greater health threat than previously known.