In a new study MRSA was frequently isolated from commonly touched surfaces in buses from a US metropolitan transportation agency serving both hospital and community routes. The study showed that buses may be effective mixing vessels for MRSA of both community and health care–associated origin.
Some 237 surface samples were taken from 40 buses from July-October 2010. Of the buses, 68% (27/40) were contaminated with S aureus, and 63% (25/40) were contaminated with MRSA. Seats and seat rails were the surfaces most frequently contaminated, followed by the back door and stanchions. Most (62.9%) of the MRSA isolates were classified as community-associated MRSA clones and 22.9% were health care–associated MRSA clones (SCCmec type II). Of the MRSA strains, 65% (5/20) were multidrug resistant.
The study can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0196655314011250
