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Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus transmission in households of infected cases : a pooled analysis of primary data from three studies across international settings

journal contribution
posted on 2015-01-01, 00:00 authored by J Knox, M Van Rijen, A C Uhlemann, M Miller, C Hafer, P Vavagiakis, Q Shi, P D Johnson, G Coombs, M Kluytmans-Van Den Bergh, J Kluytmans, Catherine BennettCatherine Bennett, F D Lowy
Diverse strain types of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cause infections in community settings worldwide. To examine heterogeneity of spread within households and to identify common risk factors for household transmission across settings, primary data from studies conducted in New York (USA), Breda (The Netherlands), and Melbourne (Australia) were pooled. Following MRSA infection of the index patient, household members completed questionnaires and provided nasal swabs. Swabs positive for S. aureus were genotyped by spa sequencing. Poisson regression with robust error variance was used to estimate prevalence odds ratios for transmission of the clinical isolate to non-index household members. Great diversity of strain types existed across studies. Despite differences between studies, the index patient being colonized with the clinical isolate at the home visit (P < 0·01) and the percent of household members aged <18 years (P < 0·01) were independently associated with transmission. Targeted decolonization strategies could be used across geographical settings to limit household MRSA transmission.

History

Journal

Epidemiology and Infection

Volume

143

Issue

2

Pagination

354 - 365

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Location

Cambridge, United Kingdom

eISSN

1469-4409

Language

eng

Publication classification

C Journal article; C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2015, Cambridge University Press