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Aggressive MRSA program at PA hospital results in significant decrease of infections

Infection Control Monitor, September 9, 2005

A culture-based active surveillance program can restrain the colonization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in transplant recipients and potentially decrease widespread infections also, reports The Medical Post.

Physicians in the transplant division of the Veterans Affairs department of the Pittsburgh Health Care System recently presented these findings at the American Transplant Congress in Seattle.

The research team, which Nina Singh, MD, headed, used nasal and rectal cultures, cohorting, contact isolation (including stethoscopes, gowns, masks and gloves, and handwashing between patients), and intranasal mupirocin for colonized patients.

The study, which the team conducted between 2000 and 2004, revealed that the rate of new colonizations with MRSA post-transplant dropped from 53% to 15%.

The rate of Staph aureus infections dropped from 41% to 4%.

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