Healthcare-associated MRSA infections increase mortality risk

When a patient suffers a healthcare-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, they are at an elevated long-term risk of mortality, according to a report in the American Journal of Infection Control.

Researchers analyzed patients with MRSA within the Department of Veterans Affairs system between Oct. 1, 2007, and Sept. 30, 2010. A total of 3,599 patients had positive MRSA cultures, and researchers found an increased risk of postdischarge mortality in those cases. Postdischarge mortality was more common in patients with positive MRSA cultures than those patients who didn't have MRSA. Also, patients with MRSA HAIs had the highest mortality rate.

"These results underscore the importance of infection prevention efforts in the hospital," the researchers concluded.

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