By Anita Manning, USA TODAY On Christmas night, 14-month-old
Bryce Smith came down with pneumonia caused by a drug-resistant
staph infection called MRSA. His father, Scott Smith, says
Bryce's pediatrician told him and his wife, Katie, that the baby
had a cold and that they shouldn't worry. By the time they took
Bryce to the hospital a week later, the infection had eaten a
hole in his lung, and doctors warned the parents that they were
not certain he'd live. Bryce, back at home and healthy again
after 55 days in the hospital, is one of thousands of children
and adults who have been infected by MRSA, or methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a bug once found only in
hospitals or nursing homes. They are victims of a dangerous
newer strain of MRSA that is raging across the country,
spreading through communities. It is causing infections from
abscesses to deadly blood poisoning, bone infections and
pneumonia, often in the young and the fit, including
professional football players, high school athletes and pr