Colonization with methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus does not protect against hospital acquisition of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, according to research published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Researchers sought to test the hypothesis that colonization with MSSA might reduce MRSA colonization in inpatients by outcompeting its resistant relative. To do so, they performed nasal screens of nearly 900 patients admitted to general medicine during seven months of 2007 in a Swiss hospital.
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Of the admitted patients, 20 percent were treated with antibiotics during their hospital stay, and 8 percent acquired MRSA in the hospital. MSSA at admission was about 20 percent for both case and control patients.
After an analysis, researchers concluded MSSA colonization was not associated with reduced MRSA colonization. However, researchers found four independent predictors of nosocomial MRSA acquisition, including older age, increased length of stay, a stay on a ward with nurses handling a higher workload and previous treatment with a specific class of antibiotic — macrolides.'
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