Abstract
his paper describes a three-month surveillance project performed to determine the incidence of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriage on admission to community hospitals in North Cumbria. The survey also attempted to identify the rate of acquisition of MRSA in the community hospitals during the study period. Study design and limitations are described. Results reveal that almost 9% of admissions had previously undetected MRSA carriage. Discharge screening demonstrated that 2.8% of patients admitted during the study period probably acquired MRSA during their admission. The utility of this information is discussed, and possibilities for future work explored.
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