Transmission of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus in an acute care hospital in Japan

Abstract

BackgroundAsymptomatic carriers of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are important sources of nosocomial transmission. However, the route of transmission of MRSA is not completely understood. The purpose of this study was to calculate MRSA transmission rates in a hospital with a high MRSA infection/colonization density and inadequate hand hygiene compliance.MethodsThe prevalence of MRSA colonization among 157 patients at the time of admission to and discharge from a medical school hospital in Japan was determined by performing surveillance cultures. All MRSA isolates were evaluated using multilocus sequence typing (MLST) to identify the transmission routes.ResultsMethicillin‐resistant S. aureus was prevalent in 1.9% of our study population. MRSA was acquired during hospitalization at a rate of 4.0/1000 patient‐days. At discharge, 5.1% of the patients exhibited MRSA colonization; this was significantly higher than the prevalence noted upon admission (P < 0.001). MLST documented three possible nosocomial transmission events. MRSA colonization was detected using surveillance cultures prior to being identified by conventional, clinically oriented examinations.ConclusionsMultilocus sequence typing results suggested that patients who were colonized with MRSA acquired it during hospitalization. These results reinforce the importance of infection control for preventing nosocomial MRSA transmission in hospitalized patients.

Prevalence and characteristics of methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization among healthcare professionals in a university hospital in Japan

“…Methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization was investigated in 45 healthcare professionals. The results were compared with previous MRSA surveillance data and are summarized in Table . The proportion of MRSA colonization was significantly higher among healthcare professionals (11.1%) than community residents (0.72%; P < 0.0001) or admission case (2.5%; P = 0.018).…”

“…Multilocus sequence typing analysis revealed that five isolates from healthcare professionals consisted of two ST8 and three ST764 isolates. These results were combined with previous MRSA surveillance data and are summarized in Table . Both ST8 and ST764 strains were isolated from residents, admission cases, hospitalized patients, and healthcare professionals.…”

Colonización nasal por Staphylococcus aureus y Staphylococcus aureus resistente a meticilina (SARM) en auxiliares de enfermería

“…Además, Tuta et al (2019), en Nigeria, encontraron que entre 300 niños que asistían a la consulta externa, el 36,3% estaba colonizado por S. aureus y el 5,3% eran SARM. De igual manera, Matsumoto et al (2018), en Japón, en un hospital con una alta densidad de infección, en 157 pacientes encontraron que S. aureus resistente a la meticilina prevaleció en el 1,9% de ellos. De modo idéntico, Marbou et al (2020), en Camerún, en muestras fecales en sujetos hospitalizados con síndrome metabólico, encontraron que en 30 de estos pacientes se detectó S. aureus, de los cuales la prevalencia del SARM fue del 79,82%, mientras que SASM fue del 20,17%.…”

Simulating Drug Discoveries

“…So much so that hospitals now need to classify whether a patient has a regular staph infection or MRSA (methicillin resistant staph infections). There has been a drastic increase in antibiotic resistant staph infection hospitalizations [3,12] over the past decade and I believe that a solution to MRSA infections might be found in QS mechanisms. A study published by the American society of bacteriology has shown direct correlation between QS and the maturation of biofilm in staphylococcus aureus; "QS via the agr system works to regulate S. aureus biofilms" [9].…”