Patients colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are at a nine-fold risk of developing a MRSA surgical site infection compared with noncolonized patients, according to a study in the American Journal of Infection Control.
From April 2008 to July 2010, 1.86 percent of inpatients at a tertiary care center who had nasal MRSA colonization contracted a MRSA SSI, while only 0.20 percent of noncolonized patients contracted the infection. Risk factors for MRSA SSI besides nasal colonization include a surgery lasting 137 minutes or more, an American Society of Anesthesiologists score of three or less and abdominal surgery.
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