We conclude that the selective use of intranasal mupirocin and daily chlorhexidine bathing for patients colonized with MRSA reduced the incidence of MRSA colonization and infection and contributed to reductions identified by active-surveillance cultures. This finding suggests that additional strategies to reduce the incidence of MRSA infection and colonization--beyond expanded surveillance--may be needed.
In our unit, ASCs were an effective means to identify MRSA colonization among patients admitted to the ICU. Unfortunately, the majority of identified patients had long durations of stay in our own hospital before ICU entry, with prolonged MRSA colonization. Enhanced efforts to control MRSA will have to account for the prevalence of MRSA within hospital wards and to direct control efforts at these patients in the future.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.