A team of researchers in University of Iowa has recommended guidelines that will cut the infection rate by 71 percent for staph bacteria and 59 percent for a broader class of infectious agents known as gram-positive bacteria.

The paper describing the guidelines has been published on June 13 in the British Medical Journal.

The researchers recommend three steps to reduce post-surgical staph infections:

• Swab patients’ noses for two strains of staph (MRSA and MSSA) before surgery
• Patients who have staph naturally in their noses, apply a anti-bacterial nose ointment in the days before surgery
• At surgery, give an antibiotic specifically for MRSA to patients who have the MRSA strain in their noses; for all others, give a more general antibiotic

Staph infections in hospitals are a serious concern and up to 85 percent of staph infections after surgery are descibed as to come from patients’ own bacteria.

Schweizer and colleagues conducted this study that included review of  39 studies of various surgical-site infection practices employed at hospitals nationwide.

Source

1. Be Gone, Bacteria. Newswise
2. M. Schweizer, E. Perencevich, J. McDanel, J. Carson, M. Formanek, J. Hafner, B. Braun, L. Herwaldt. Effectiveness of a bundled intervention of decolonization and prophylaxis to decrease Gram positive surgical site infections after cardiac or orthopedic surgery: systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ, 2013; 346 (jun13 1): f2743 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.f2743