Follow up of care home residents to determine evolution of MRSA
carriage and effects of colonization status on health outcome
This project is headed by Professor Mark Wilcox, Head of Medical
Microbiology, Director of Infection Prevention & Control, Leeds
Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust & University of Leeds. There is
increasing concern that care homes may be a significant reservoir
for MRSA. Of MRSA bacteraemias occurring in Elderly Medicine
patients in Leeds, ~50% were associated with care home residents. In
an audit of practice (2000) based on 1996 guidelines, only 19% of
care homes met the critical standards for caring for residents with
MRSA. However, there have only been 3 published studies looking at
the prevalence of MRSA colonization in UK care homes (most recently
in 1999). We have performed a baseline study (summer 2005) of MRSA
prevalence and risk factors in over 700 care home residents in
Leeds, the largest ever in this setting. MRSA and MSSA colonization
rates were 22% and 20%, respectively. Crucially, there are currently
no data to indicate whether MRSA colonization of care home residents
will lead to an adverse outcome. This is a unique opportunity to
carry out a prospective cohort study on our baseline population to
determine the health outcome of care home residents according to
MRSA colonization status, changes in the prevalence of and risk
factors for MRSA following dissemination to care homes of consensus
infection control advice, and to characterize the molecular
epidemiology of MRSA in care homes.
This project commenced in Autumn 2006 and is due to complete in
Spring 2009.
