In a recent study, a combined approach of universal screening of MRSA carriage with PCR testing, followed by topical decolonization with mupirocin and isolation precautions for carriers, was associated with a 69.6% reduction in the aggregate hospital-associated MRSA disease incidence [ 24].
During his hospital stay, the patient underwent screening for carriage of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriacae (CRE) as part of a routine infection control program aimed at limiting the spread of CRE.
Infection control measures consisted of daily infection control visits, use of alcohol-gel dispensers, use of gloves and gowns for patient examination and admission, and weekly surveillance screening for carriage of MRSA and gentamicin-resistant gram-negative bacteria.
Screening for carriage of MRSA was performed on 19 May 2006, after clinical samples became positive with MRSA.
At the end of November 2000, after health authorities were notified, nasal screening for carriage of S. aureus was performed first in the 22 classmates and their 2 teachers and next in the families of those who had had skin infections or who had been found to be carriers of PRSA.
On admission, recruited patients were screened for carriage of P. aeruginosa (wounds, urine and stool) using standard microbiology techniques.
Between the 11th July and 7th November 2011, each week all current inpatients in two out of the five adult inpatient wards (rotating between male and female medical, male and female surgical and gynaecological) were screened for carriage of S.aureus.
Prospective studies with systematic screening of asymptomatic ESBL carriage in subjects residing in nursing homes and in elderly patients upon admission to hospitals in geriatric wards are necessary to improve our knowledge on the dynamic of acquisition and transmission of ESBLs between different human sectors.
The units that did screen for MRSA (57%), screened groups at high risk of carriage, including patients with previous MRSA (93%), patients from nursing homes (21%), patients from other hospitals (21%), recent history of admission for any reason (12%; range varied 6 18 months) and patients from abroad (12%).
At ICU admission, 284 patients were screened for carriage.
