Does MRSA spread in hospitals and healthcare facilities?
Most MRSA infections that are encountered while staying in a hospital or healthcare facility are acquired by one of two major mechanisms. First, the patient may become infected with the MRSA organism that was part of their own flora. This may well be flora that the patient entered the facility with, the most likely scenario. A colonized individual who undergoes a surgical procedure (such as the insertion of a venous catheter or other indwelling device) that requires breaking the skin to install the device provides the MRSA organisms already on the patient’s skin an opportunity to breech the barrier of the integument. Thus, the patient appears to have acquired a nosocomial MRSA infection but in actuality the infecting organism was from the patient’s own flora. That having been said, there is no doubt that MRSA does sometimes spread in healthcare facilities and nursing homes from one patient to another. Most often, this is facilitated by healthcare workers who fail to wash their hands be
