MRSA more transmissible in OR than methicillin-sensitive S aureus

Editor's Note

In this study, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had a greater risk of transmission in the OR than methicillin-sensitive S aureus.

Researchers collected 173 S aureus isolates from 274 randomly selected ORs (first and second cases of the day in each OR) at three hospitals. The isolates underwent systematic-phenotypic and genomic processing to identify clonally related transmission events.

A total of 58 clonal transmission events were identified. MRSA isolates were associated with increased risk of transmission compared with the methicillin-sensitive isolates (adjusted incidence risk ratio [IRR], 1.68; unadjusted IRR, 1.85).

Future research should examine the impact of intraoperative MRSA transmission on the incidence of invasive MRSA infections, the authors say.