No high quality studies on reducing MRSA infection in nursing homes for elderly people

Nursing homes for older people provide environments where bacteria such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are likely to thrive.

Despite this, there are no high quality studies that look specifically at means of reducing the risk of transmission and infection in this setting.

MRSA is a bacterial strain that causes significant disease partly because it is resistant to most commonly used antibiotics. It is most frequently found in communities where antibiotics are frequently taken and where people live close together. In homes for elderly people this is even more problematic in that some residents have pressure sores that are particularly vulnerable to infection.

Given the anxiety about MRSA and the high risk associated with these homes, a team of Cochrane Researchers set out to find studies that aimed to reduce the risk of infection. Having searched the international literature they discovered that there were no studies that met their criteria.

“The lack of studies in this field is surprising,” says lead author Professor Carmel Hughes who works in the School of Pharmacy at Queen's University, Belfast.

“We are aware of one randomised controlled study that is currently underway in nursing homes, however given the importance of the issue we need many more. It is important that we recognise that these homes are very different from hospitals and that we do not simply try to apply findings from research conducted in hospitals,” says Hughes.