Yo microbiology peeps! I need help answering this: Explain why MRSA is such a hospital menace using these statistics (open my attachment in the comments)

Question

greeneyes · Answer

open the attachment and scroll to question 3 to see the chart

mathmate · Answer

Given that MRSA is infectious, and 1/4 of cases are discovered >48 hours after admission, do you see a problem there? The 48-hour delay is the time it takes to analyse the swab. It appears that new methods are available to detect the staph DNA in a matter of hours. This might improve the situation. (see ref. below) https://labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/mrsa/tab/test/

greeneyes · Answer

So the fact that 23% of MRSA is detected after 48 hours gives the infection time to spread more easily during that time in the hospital? What about the other three statistics? What should I say about those? What is active surveillance culture vs. clinical culture? @mathmate

mathmate · Answer

Yes, most patients are not quarantined and test administered automatically. They will generally be tested only if they have relevant symptoms or risks. Also note that one-third of the population will test positive in the nose swab. (lost track of the reference, Google if you need it). I am not very sure of the implications of the other statistic. But here's what I've found. "Active surveillance cultures (ASCs) are universal or targeted microbiological screening cultures for patients admitted to a hospital. " Ref: http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/46/11/1717.long The paper suggests that the efficacity of ASC's is not demonstrated (also, here, 19%) while the rest (clinical culture) detects 81% of the cases. However, one can also argue that the pool of subjects is limited in the hospital setting. So please do some more related research and come up with a convincing conclusion.

greeneyes · Answer

Okay will do! Thank you for your help! I had another question "List 5 of the Staphylococcus  "kind" characteristics. Which traits are most likely to lead to pathogenicity?" and so far I could only find 1) the golden Staphylococcus pyogenes aureus (S. aureus)  and 2) the white Staphylococcus albus (Staphylococcus epidermis). Would MRSA be another "kind"? I'm not exactly sure what the question is asking for. Do you know?

greeneyes · Answer

@mathmate