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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has become ubiquitous in emergency departments, but the role of healthcare workers in its transmission is unclear. To assess likelihood of MRSA colonization, infection, and transmission among healthcare workers, researchers performed a comprehensive literature search and identified 127 investigations involving 33,318 screened healthcare workers.
Only 18 studies failed to detect MRSA in healthcare workers. Inadequate hand-washing, chronic skin diseases, and having worked in countries with endemic MRSA were identified as risk factors for MRSA carriage. The overall MRSA carriage rate was 4.6%, and most colonization was on the hands or in the nasopharynx of affected healthcare workers. Of these …