Carriage and community treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: what happens to colonized patients after discharge?

During a maternity hospital outbreak of colonization/infection due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), mothers and babies from 35 families were known to have been discharged colonized with MRSA. Thirty-two of these families were followed up by screening in the community. After 4 weeks, carriage was still detectable in 22 families. The ten families in which carriage was no longer detectable had MRSA isolated at discharge from enrichment culture only. All of the 11 families who had MRSA isolated on direct culture at discharge continued to carry MRSA. Mothers and babies from the 22 families still carrying MRSA at 4 weeks were offered topical treatment. Carriage persisted in ten of these families despite treatment. The most common site of persistent carriage was the perineum in mothers and the throat in infants.