MRSA is one of the most common types of infection, which affects primarily the skin and soft tissues. Of the 80,461 estimated cases of MRSA that occurred in 2011, 48,353 were health care-associated community-onset (HCAO) infections, 14,156 occurred in hospitals and 16,560 were community-associated infections. That amounts to an incidence rate drop of 27.7% for HCAO infections and 54.2% for hospital-based infections but only a 5% decrease in community-onset infections, the study says.
 
“Despite these decreases, invasive MRSA infections with onset in the community or outpatient setting remain problematic and represent the majority of invasive MRSA infections. Future research is needed to understand the progression of colonization and non-invasive MRSA infection to invasive infection in outpatient settings. Future prevention efforts should target both community and health care transmission, especially among patients with recent hospitalization,” the authors wrote in the study that is described in a JAMA Internal Medicine press release.
 
Check out DecisionHealth’s Home Health Policy Builder, 2014, which has useful information on infection control and safety.