Family members of patients recently discharged from the hospital may have a higher risk of getting an antibiotic-resistant infection, often called a superbug, even if the patient was not diagnosed with the same infection, suggesting hospitals play a role in the community spread of resistant bacteria, according to study in I nfection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. When recently hospitalized patients were diagnosed with the superbug -; Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection (MRSA) -; the risk to relatives living with them was even higher. The longer the relative's hospital stay, even without a MRSA diagnosis, the higher the risk to family members.
Patients can become colonized with MRSA during their hospital stay and transmit MRSA to their household members. This suggests hospitals contribute to the spread of MRSA into the community through discharged patients who are asymptomatic carriers." Aaron Miller, PhD, lead researcher on the study and research assistant professor of internal medicine-infectious diseases, University of Iowa Miller recommends hospitals enhance infection control practices, including testing for MRSA colonization, especially at discharge, even with there are no symptoms of infection.
He said MRSA colonization and infections could be tracked among hospital patients and their household contacts to identify and mitigate transmission more effectively. "This important study illu.