Given that the Emergency Department (ED) has become the entry way for large populations of patients into the health care system, a strategy of sampling MRSA isolates in ED populations and merging this information with patient-level data may present a window to hypothesize and investigate CA-MRSA transmission within the community and its impact on hospital-acquired infections.

Prospective cross-sectional study involving 500 patients enrolled over a one year period at the UFHealth Shands Hospital's Adult and Pediatric Emergency Department. The collected information will serve as pilot data for a future large comprehensive multi-site study.

Patients will have a wound culture and a nasal swab obtained as part of the study, which will be assessed for MRSA isolates using next-generation whole genome sequencing. The principal investigator or PI designee will also survey participants and review hospital records.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patient or Legally Authorized Representative (LAR) must have voluntarily signed an Institutional Review Board-approved informed consent form before initiation of any study procedures
• Patient presents with an acute abscess or a non-post-operative skin/soft tissue infection
• Patient presents through the UFHealth Shands Emergency Department

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients who are employed by UFHealth and provide direct patient care
• Patients who have previously been enrolled in the study
• Patients who are not suitable for the study in the opinion of the investigator

Adult and pediatric patients presenting to the UFHealth Shands Emergency Department with evidence of an acute abscess, or skin/soft tissue infection (SSTI), which can be sampled for culture and sensitivity testing