All In The Family: How MRSA Bacteria Spread At Home (Links to an external site)
Washington University researchers collected bacteria samples from more than 100 families with children who had been treated for MRSA infections. They found MRSA on multiple household surfaces, including towels, bedsheets and personal hygiene items.
Where ‘Superbugs’ Lurk in Your Home – and How to Stop Them (Links to an external site)
But the new findings underscore how households are an important incubator, too, said lead researcher Dr. Stephanie Fritz, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Washington University in St. Louis.
“I see many children [with MRSA] who come in with recurrent infections,” said Fritz. “And often, multiple members of the family are affected, too.”
Drug-resistant staph spreads easily in households (Links to an external site)
“The household environment plays a key role in the transmission of MRSA in the community setting,” senior study author Dr. Stephanie Fritz of Washington University in St. Louis said in a statement. “This suggests that aggressive attempts to rid MRSA from household surfaces may significantly lower the number of MRSA infections we’re seeing now.”
Drug-Resistant MRSA Can Spread Via Toothbrushes and Towels, Scientists Warn (Links to an external site)
“We really wanted to get to the root of the problem and understand how people acquire MRSA,” said Fritz, by understanding how MRSA gets into households, and spreads, particularly from person-to person contact and sharing items, as well as the role cats and dogs might play.
Deadly superbug MRSA can linger on surfaces in the home for months (Links to an external site)
“It’s a hardy bacterium that lives on surfaces,” said study coauthor, Dr. Stephanie Fritz, an associate professor in the division of pediatric infectious diseases at Washington University in St. Louis. “People can pick it up and bring it home and the house can become colonized.”