Prevalence of nasal colonization among patients with community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection and their household contacts.

This paper describes a study of nasal colonization among patients and their household members from in an urban medical center. Skin and soft-tissue infections were seen in 50 patients (98%) and two household members. Twenty-one (41%) of 51 patients and 10 (20%) of 49 household members were colonized with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Most isolates (95%; infective and colonizing) carried the mec type IV complex. Of the colonized household members, five had isolates related to the patients' infective isolate. The report suggests that the frequency of CA-MRSA colonization among household members of patients with CA-MRSA infections is higher than among the general population. Among colonized household members, only half of the MRSA strains were related to the patients' infective isolate. Within the same household, multiple strains of CA-MRSA may be present. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology 2007;28:966-969.