How to Prevent Staphylococcal Infections

Staphylococcal infections are caused by bactera from the Staphylococcus genus, especially Staphyloccocus aureus. It persistently colonizes up to 30 percent of the population, primarily in the nasal passages. Most infections are minor and don't require treatment, but untreated bacteremia from Staphyloccocus aureus has a mortality rate of more than 80 percent. Some infections are caused by Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, which complicates the treatment of these infections. Read on to learn more.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Follow good, basic hygiene habits required by health care workers. Wash your hands for 20 seconds with an antibacterial soap between each patient. Wearing gloves and changing them between each patient would be an even better approach. Use paper hand towels when flushing toilets and opening bathroom doors.
2. Treat patients with a combination of antibiotics to eradicate colonization by Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus. The most successful combinations have been rifampin with trimthoprim sulfamethoxazole and rifampin with minocycline.
3. Apply mupirocin ointment to the colonized area. It is typically applied to the affected area twice a day for five days and reduces rate of staphylococcal infections by about 50 percent. Mupirocin ointment is easy to apply and has few side effects except it usually decolorizes the skin for up to a week.
4. Perform one of the new rapid tests to identify Staphylococcus aureus within two hours. This may allow mupirocin to be used more widely in patients scheduled for surgery or otherwise susceptible to infection.
5. Administer the recently developed DNA vaccine which offers a different and effective approach to Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.