A collaboration between researchers at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, Miss., and the University of Southern Mississippi has uncovered four risk factors associated with highly antibiotic Staph infections, like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
There are different MRSA strains in different parts of the U.S. Before the collaboration, there were no studies showing risk factors for highly resistant MRSA in the Southeast region of the nation, particularly in Mississippi.
After analyzing 30 patients, researchers found the following four factors that can be used to predict outbreaks of MRSA infections:
- Prior hospital stay
- Coming from a nursing home
- Prior antibiotic use
- Presence of PVL gene in the infecting strain
"This research is helping us to identify risk factors associated with MRSA infections," said Luis Marcos, MD, medical director of Forrest General's infection prevention department and head of its antimicrobial stewardship program. "If we can just do interventions to reduce the transmission of MRSA among healthcare facilities, this could potentially reduce the severe MRSA infections that place these patients in the hospital."