By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

Rep. Dan Johnson, R-Hays, has been hospitalized to combat a drug-resistant staph infection.

He remains in good spirits but learned Tuesday he likely will remain at Hays Medical Center for the rest of the week.

"The doctor said I would probably be here through the week at least, and depending on how things progress, we'd make some decisions then," Johnson said in a telephone interview from his hospital bed.

The infection so far only affects a toe, but it is a bacteria that needs to be aggressively treated.

Johnson said he was told it was caused by what is known as MRSA -- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

"It's the one that has gotten a lot of press because very few antibiotics can touch it," he said.

Johnson was hospitalized Monday for more intensive treatments.

"I'm on IVs and a lot of pills," he said. He's also been told to keep weight off his foot.

This is actually Johnson's second bout of battling a staph infection, the first coming in 2008 after he underwent hip replacement surgery.

That was a different form of the bacteria, however, and could be battled with a number of drugs.

"It wasn't MRSA," he said of the type of infection he had in 2008. "It was the non-resistant kind. Still, it was deep in the hip socket."

Currently, the infection only affects his toe, but only a few drugs that can be used to fight it.

"It's bad stuff," he said, "and they can't let it go. They've got to get it under control."