MRSA infections down 30% at VA hospitals

Editor's Note

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates have declined significantly over 8 years with the Veterans Affairs MRSA Prevention Initiative, this study finds.

Between 2007 and 2015, MRSA HAI rates fell:

• 87% in ICUs
• 80.1% in non-ICUs
• 80.9% in spinal cord injury units
• 49.4% in long-term care.

In the ICUs, nondevice bloodstream infection rates fell significantly faster than those not associated with a central line, suggesting that the declines were not solely because of a formalized approach to placing and maintaining central line intravascular catheter’s, the authors say.