1) It can be deadly.
2) It is treatable.
3) Your mother can go see him without risk of contracting staph.
4) Your aunt could have it as well.
5) It is possible that it could be resistant to drugs. Some types of Staph are described as Methicillin resistant staph aureus (MRSA) and others are multi-drug resistant staph aureus.
6) It could have been acquired in the hospital, where it is found fairly regularly or he could have gotten it from a Staph carrier outside of the hospital, someone with no symptoms of illness.
7) The spider bite on his leg wouldn’t have any thing to do with it.
8) You must speak with your uncle's doctor. Any 101 on staph infection would have to be based on intimate knowledge of the specific staph involved, the extent of the pneumonia, and based on his general health and the response thus far to antibiotic therapy, the likelihood of his recovering.
can this type staph be air borne and/or spread easily in long term care facilities?