A drug-resistant bacteria commonly found in child-care centers, locker rooms and military facilities has made its way into nursing homes, according to a study conducted by the University of California, Irvine, that will be published in next month’s issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Researchers in the study tested residents at 22 Orange County, Calif., nursing homes for community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (CA-MRSA) and found it at 20 of the facilities included in their study.
They also found this type of MRSA, which typically exists outside the hospital environment, was present in 25 percent of their total MRSA-positive swabs and that this bacterial strain was more prevalent among nursing homes where a larger percentage of residents were younger than 65.
