The spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus(MRSA) in nursing homes has gone largely unaddressed, according to a newscientific review. Despite nursing homes being prime breeding ground for theinfection, researchers found that “much of the research effort around MRSAto date has focused primarily on hospitals,” according to lead reviewauthor Carmel Hughes of Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland.
One reason for the disparity between hospitals andnursing homes may be a simple matter of function, Hughes said. Hospitals havemuch more access to experts to infection control resources and staff, he noted.An expert from Johns Hopkins Medical Center said MRSA simply has not risen highenough on skilled nursing’s priority list to receive a lot of attention.
Common factors in nursing homes such as pressure sores,catheters, being on more than one medication and living in close proximity toother people all contribute highly to the risk of contracting MRSA, the reviewnoted.
“It is likely that an intervention for MRSA innursing homes will consist of screening recently admitted residents to thenursing homes, hand washing and high standards of cleaning anddecontamination,” Hughes said.
She and her colleagues sought randomized andcontrolled clinical trials centering on infection control interventions inskilled nursing facilities but reportedly found none. Her review of infectioncontrol in nursing homes appears in The Cochrane Library, an internationalorganization that evaluates medical research.
