MRSA invading hospitals through outpatient traffic

Fighting MRSA within hospitals is tough enough. Now, a new study suggests that community-associated MRSA carriers are bringing their own strains of the bug into hospital facilities, adding to the existing strains which populate hospital inpatient wards.

Researchers found that the community-based strain (CA-MRSA), which is picked up in public places like gyms and schools, is being tracked into hospitals already plagued with hospital-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA).

The study appears in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, which is published by the CDC. To do the study, researchers analyzed data from 300+ microbiology labs used by U.S. hospitals to determine MRSA patterns. They found that between 1999 and 2006 there was a seven-fold rise in the proportion of CA-MRSA found in hospital outpatient units.

Specifically, CA-MRSA infection rates rose from 3.6 percent of all MRSA infections (1999) to 28.2 percent in 2006. Researchers found similar rates of MRSA infection in inpatients.

To get more information from the study:
- read this Medical News Today article

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