SHR # 2693:: Silent MRSA Carriers Have Twice the Mortality Rate - Dr. Arch Mainous, Ph.D. - 2percent of the US population has MRSA at any given time. That's a large portion of the population. MRSA - or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus - is rampant in hospitals, nursing homes, gyms, prisons and anywhere there is a concentration of people with open wounds and compromised immune systems. My bet is everyone knows someone who has it. In the elderly and infants it can be deadly. When it gets into the bloodstream it travels to every organ in the body. As the name implies, it's antibiotic resistant so depending on how bad the infection is difficult to get rid of. But over time you can get rid of it. An emerging problem however is people who carry the bacteria and don't know it. If you don't develop symptoms and the infection you my never know you have it. And that will put you at greater risk of premature death.