Isolation of Patients with MRSA and Cross-Infection in ICUs

"Results of a UK study published online today (Friday 7 January 2005)suggest that the widely practised approach of isolating intensive-care patients infected with MRSA does not reduce cross-infection. Authors of the study caution that this finding should not be extended to general hospital wards, and needs further confirmation from larger studies.

Hospital-acquired infections cost the UK National Health Service around 1 billion a year. A fifth of these infections are caused by meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), especially within intensive-care units. Single room or group isolation of patients infected or colonised with MRSA is commonly used to reduce spread, but its benefit over and above other contact precautions is not known. "