MRSA

SEATTLE — Veterans Affairs facilities that opted not to suspend active surveillance and contact precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic reported fewer health care-associated MRSA infections, especially in ICUs, researchers found.

WASHINGTON — A MRSA PCR nasal swab showed promise as a tool for antimicrobial stewardship in a large study of pediatric critical care patients, according to findings presented here at IDWeek.

Genomic surveillance identified clusters of MRSA among strains cultured from bloodstream infections in two Philadelphia hospitals, researchers reported.

DENVER — The incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus has gone down slightly but is still significant at 37%, Penny A. Asbell, MD, MBA, FARVO, said at the ARVO meeting.

As a prior history major, I was drawn to infectious diseases by the patient stories, by the high value that the field placed on patients’ narratives and social contexts.

A recent study reported an increase in the percentage of MRSA in the United States that was resistant to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole from 2012 through 2017.

Discontinuing contact precautions for MRSA and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus did not lead to an increase in hospital-associated infections in a Pennsylvania hospital system, according to a study.

Fist bump and elbow bump greetings both resulted in the frequent transfer of MRSA from colonized patients, although significantly more MRSA colonies were recovered from fists vs. elbows, according to a study.

Patients with Staphylococcus aureus who were treated with exebacase, a recombinantly produced lysin, achieved symptom resolution in half the time compared with participants who received placebo, researchers reported at IDWeek.

Environmental MRSA contamination of hospital rooms likely depends on patient activity and level of colonization, researchers reported in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.