Caring for Patients with MRSA at home

What is MRSA?

• MRSA stands for meticillin, resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus (pronounced staf-ill-okok- us or-ee-us), or “Staph aureus” for short
• It is a common germ that lives completely harmlessly on the skin or in the nose of about one in three people.
• MRSA is a type of Staph aureus that has become resistant to a number of different antibiotics
• Most people who carry MRSA on their bodies or in their noses don’t suffer any ill effects. Carrying the germ harmlessly like this is called “colonisation”
• However MRSA sometimes causes infections if it enters the body. This is more likely to happen to people who are already unwell, particularly those who are in hospital with a serious illness

Are friends and relatives at risk when a person with MRSA is discharged from hospital?

• In patients who are otherwise well, MRSA often disappear once the patient leaves the hospital.
• The risk to healthy relatives or others outside the hospital setting is extremely small.
• The only exception is if relatives are hospital workers that come into contact with patients on a routine basis. In this case, there may be a risk of them transmitting MRSA to other patients. 

Why then are people with MRSA isolated in hospitals if I don’t have to do this at home?

• Even though most people with MRSA in hospital carry the germ harmlessly, hospitals take steps to stop the spread of MRSA to other people so that the risk of serious MRSA infections is reduced.
• This is because patients in hospital are sicker than people at home. They are therefore more likely to get an MRSA infection than somebody at home.

What precautions should I take at home if I am caring for somebody with MRSA?

In the home, the following general precautions should be followed:

1. Good hand washing practice is the single most important measure.
     You should wash your hands with soap and water
      · after physical contact with the infected or colonised person
      and
      · before leaving the home.

2. Disposable gloves should be worn if you are in contact with
    · body fluids (eg urine)
    · wound and other dressings / bandages
    You should also wash your hands after removing the gloves.

3. Cover cuts or breaks in your skin with impermeable (waterproof) dressings.
4. Change and wash linens if they are soiled and on a routine basis.
5. Routinely clean the patient’s environment using standard detergents, and when soiled with body fluids.

Further information on MRSA is also available from the following websites:
· www.hpsc.ie
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) has a “Frequently Asked Questions” page on Staph aureus and MRSA in the “Topics A-Z” section of their website.
Information on the current levels of MRSA, and other infections, in Ireland can also be found in the EARSS section of the HPSC website
· www.hpa.org.uk
The UK Health Protection Agency has background information on MRSA in the “Topics A-Z” section of its website
· www.cdc.gov
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) website has information on MRSA under its “A-Z Index”
· www.amm.co.uk
The UK Association of Medical Microbiologists has a factsheet on MRSA available in the publications section of their website

Created: 15 September 2006