ONE IN four residents in nursing homes in parts of Northern Ireland is carrying MRSA bacteria, according to a new study.
Virtually all the nursing homes surveyed were colonised with MRSA, with rates in individual homes ranging from zero to 73 per cent, the study by Queen’s University Belfast and Antrim Area Hospital found.
The authors say that the findings, which has been published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, highlight the need for a high priority for infection control strategies in nursing homes.
The study, claimed to be the largest of its kind of MRSA in private nursing homes in the UK, took nose swabs from more than 1,100 residents and 550 staff in 45 nursing homes in the former Northern board area of Northern Ireland.
Twenty-four per cent of residents and 7 per cent of staff were found to be colonised with MRSA, meaning they were carrying the bacteria but not necessarily showing signs of infection or illness.
Staff in 28 of the homes carried the bacteria, with prevalence rates ranging from zero to 28 per cent.
The study was carried out after specialists noticed an increase in the number of patients with MRSA being admitted from nursing homes to hospitals in the area.
While routine checks for the bacteria are carried out in hospitals to identify those most at risk, and infection control policies, this is not always feasible in private nursing homes, according to Dr Paddy Kearney, consultant microbiologist with the Northern Health and Social Care Trust.
Prof Carmel Hughes, research director in the school of pharmacy at Queen’s University Belfast, said: “In order to combat this problem, two approaches could be considered: improved education and training of staff, and removing MRSA from people who are colonised with it, using suitable creams and washes.”
“Further studies looking at these approaches need to be carried out.”
