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 MRSA was once rare, and so-called staph infections used to be more
easily treated with antibiotics, researchers note in the Lancet
Infectious Diseases. But due in part to overuse of antibiotics, MRSA
now infects hundreds of thousands of people and kills about 20,000
people each year in the U.S. alone.
For the current study, researchers took a closer look at what might
happen inside the home to spread infections, focusing on the
households of 150 otherwise healthy children who had been treated
for MRSA infections along with 692 family members and 154 household
cats and dogs.
"The household environment plays a key role in the transmission of
MRSA in the community setting," senior study author Dr. Stephanie
Fritz of Washington University in St. Louis said in a statement.
"This suggests that aggressive attempts to rid MRSA from household
surfaces may significantly lower the number of MRSA infections we're
seeing now."
"It wasn't just one patient who would get a staph infection but
multiple members of a family," Fritz added. "Within a year, we'd see
many patients return with recurring infections."
Staphylococcus aureus bacteria generally live harmlessly on the skin
in about one-third of the human population. The bacteria can spread
through skin-to-skin contact or by touching contaminated surfaces.
A typical staph infection resembles a pus-filled bug bite and when
it goes untreated or patients don't respond to treatment it can
cause complications like pneumonia, severe organ damage and death if
it enters the bloodstream, bones or organs.
In the study, researchers visited each home five times during a
one-year period to obtain swab samples from people's nostrils,
armpits and groins. For cats and dogs, researchers collected samples
from inside the nose and along the animals' backs, where they're
most often petted.
Almost half of the people and nearly one-third of the cats and dogs
had MRSA at last once over the course of the year-long study period.
"It's sometimes thought that cats and dogs spread harmful germs,"
Fritz said.
"We thought they might be a reservoir for the staph germ and play a
role in its spread," Fritz added. "But our study showed that cats
and dogs were more likely to get staph from humans than the other
way around."
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Additionally, researchers tested for staph on 21 household surfaces
such as refrigerator door handles, sink faucets, bathroom
countertops, bed sheets, bath towels, light switches, telephones,
television and videogame controllers, and computer keyboards and
mice.
People who transmitted MRSA to other individuals or animals were 25%
more likely to share bath towels than people who didn't spread staph,
the study found.
And, people who caught MRSA from others in their homes were 23% less
likely to be homeowners and 33% more likely to share bedrooms with
infected individuals, the study found.
Pets were often transmission recipients, but rarely the sole
transmission source of MRSA.
New strains of MRSA were 14% less likely to show up in households
where people frequently washed their hands.
People who practice frequent handwashing (with soap or hand
sanitizer) after using the bathroom, before preparing food, before
eating and after changing a diaper are less likely to bring staph
into their homes, the study results suggest.
Children, especially those attending daycare, are more likely to
bring staph into their homes, making frequent handwashing even more
essential for these families.
One limitation of the study is that results might be different in
households without young children or with only adults in the home,
the study authors note.
Even so, the findings underscore that good hygiene habits can help
prevent the spread of MRSA within households, the study team
concludes.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2KULlo2 Lancet Infectious Diseases, online
November 26, 2019.
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