MRSA carriers at long-term risk

Patients carrying MRSA for long periods continue to be at increased risk of infection and death, warn US researchers.

They said previous studies had focused on newer cases of bacterial colonisation.

They found 23% of MRSA-colonised patients developed infections – most commonly pneumonia – a year or more after colonisation. The 12-month study followed 281 patients who had been MRSA-positive for 1–4 years. The bacterium was a contributing factor in 14 deaths.

'Since infection risk remains substantial in long-term carriers of MRSA, these patients should be targeted for interventions
to reduce subsequent risk of infection along with patients who newly acquire MRSA,' said the authors online in Clinical Infectious Diseases.