According to an Aug. 7 press release, a study entitled, “Hospitalizations among family members increase the risk of MRSA infection in a household,” was published online in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
The press release says that “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…”
The release adds that when hospitalized patients were diagnosed with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection (MRSA) the risk of individuals living with them was higher. The longer the stay of the patient, even without MRSA, the higher the risk to those living with the patient.
“Patients can become colonized with MRSA during their hospital stay and transmit MRSA to their household members,” said Aaron Miller, PhD, lead researcher on the study and research assistant professor of internal medicine-infectious diseases at University of Iowa. “This suggests hospitals contribute to the spread of MRSA into the community through discharged patients who are asymptomatic carriers.”
“Miller recommends hospitals enhance infection control practices, including testing for MRSA colonization, especially at discharge, even with there are no symptoms of infection,” the release adds. “He said MRSA colonization and infections could be tracked among hospital patients and their household contacts to identify and mitigate transmission more effectively.”
Researchers used a database of insurance claims that included 158 million enrollees with two or more family members on the same plan for their study.
The press release adds that “Reviewing 424,512 MRSA cases among 343,524 insured people, the study found 4,724 cases of MRSA being potentially transmitted to a family member from a relative who had recently been in the hospital and had a diagnosis of MRSA. They also found 8,064 potential transmissions of MRSA after the hospitalization of a family member who did not have a MRSA infection.”
Individuals exposed to a recently hospitalized family member with MRSA were 7,000% more likely to get a MRSA infection compared those who did not have a family member who had been in the hospitalized or exposed to MRSA in the last 30 days.
Having a family member in the household who was hospitalized but did not have MRSA increased the chances of a relative getting MRSA in the month after discharge by 44%.
The press release also added that further factors associated with MRSA infections among household members included number of other illnesses, prior antibiotic usage, and the presence of young children in the family.
