More bacteria present when hospital patients moved

Moving patients from hospitals to long-term care facilitiess show increases in the prevalence of the potentially dangerous bacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to a new study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. When hospitals transferred patients to long-term care facilities, which typically have fewer patients and less frequent patient turnover, the prevalence of MRSA rose from 6.9 percent to 9.4 percent to 13.8 percent in one scenario. Facility size and discharge rates seem to be related to incidents of bacteria; the study authors recommend facilities use decolonization strategies for infection control. Study abstract