Community Acquired MRSA and Healthcare Workers

It has been a quiet weekend for me, with a self imposed ban on all sort of real work for 48 hours. Somehow, I managed to survive without being in the office, the hospital or tethered to my laptop. 

Back to business.

We often hear of CA-MRSA (community-acquired methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) outbreaks in either the medical literature or the lay media. Here is an interesting descriptive study on a CA-MRSA outbreak among healthcare workers, with transmission to a patient.

Skin and soft tissue infections (boils) typify CA-MRSA infections. Healthcare workers are not immune to this phenomenon.  The authors mention that  identification of colonized healthcare workers is important in successful control of MRSA transmission, particularly in an outbreak. 

Even though aggressive screening, decolonization, and treatment of HCWs seem justified in MRSA outbreaks, we are back the same tried and true message: educational programs, proper hand hygiene, and strict adherence to universal precautions remain essential for controlling the spread of MRSA.

Wash your hands.