Researchers downplay MRSA screening
Three VCU epidemiologists are downplaying the value of mandatory universal nasal screening of patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. They are arguing that proven, hospital-wide infection control practices can prevent more of the potentially fatal infections.
Three VCU epidemiologists are downplaying the value of mandatory universal nasal screening of patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. They are arguing that proven, hospital-wide infection control practices can prevent more of the potentially fatal infections.
In a report published in the November issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the team, composed of internationally acclaimed epidemiologists Drs. Richard P. Wenzel, Gonzalo Bearman and Michael B. Edmond, of the School of Medicine, said hospitals get more bang for their buck with evidence-based infection control prevention.
Some states, including Pennsylvania, Illinois, California and New Jersey, are mandating nasal screening in some hospitalized patients. MRSA is a strain of Staph bacteria that does not respond to penicillin and related antibiotics, but can be treated with other drugs.
Brief by VCU News Center
