Hospitalized patients are bringing superbugs home with them Family members of the recently hospitalized are 71 times more likely to be infected with MRSA The risk to family members increases with the length of a hospital stay FRIDAY, Aug. 9, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Patients discharged from a hospital stay are bringing “superbugs” home with them, a new study warns. Family members of recently discharged patients are 71 times more likely to get a MRSA infection after their return, compared with people who didn’t have a hospitalization in their family, researchers found.
Worse, the longer a relative’s hospital stay, the higher the risk to family members -- even if the hospital patient was never diagnosed with MRSA. “Patients can become colonized with MRSA during their hospital stay and transmit MRSA to their household members,” said lead researcher , a research assistant professor of internal medicine-infectious diseases at the University of Iowa. “This suggests hospitals contribute to the spread of MRSA into the community through discharged patients who are asymptomatic carriers,” Miller added.
Infections of methicillin-resistant (MRSA) don’t respond to common antibiotics, making them difficult to treat, researchers said in background notes. MRSA infections can be deadly if they spread to the blood or the lungs. MRSA usually spreads in hospitals and healthcare settings, but it can also be transmitted in communities, usually through skin-to skin contact.
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