There is a significant association between hospitalized patients returning home and an increased risk for MRSA in their family, according to a study published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. Aaron C. Miller, PhD, and colleagues estimated the risk for household transmission of MRSA following exposure to infected family members or those recently discharged from a hospital without MRSA. Data were included for 157,944,708 enrollees, with a total of 424,512 cases of MRSA. The researchers found that exposure to a family member with MRSA in the prior 30 days was associated with a significantly increased risk for infection (incidence rate ratio, 71.03) across all enrollees. After exclusion of enrollees hospitalized or exposed to a family member with MRSA, the risk for infection was increased with exposure to a family member who was recently discharged from the hospital (incidence rate ratio, 1.44); the risk for infection increased with duration of the hospital stay of the family member.
