Healthcare Workers and MRSA

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in institutionalized patients, and community-acquired MRSA is now the most common cause of purulent skin and soft-tissue infections in adults. Healthcare workers colonized with MRSA can transmit it to patients and colleagues as well as develop clinical infections themselves. In a prospective cohort study, researchers assessed MRSA nasal-colonization rates in a convenience sample of 105 emergency department healthcare workers (attending physicians, nurses, and technicians) at a single institution in Illinois. Nasal samples from 16 workers (15%) were MRSA-positive.