Abstract

In the Netherlands on the average 10.000 nursing home patients are admitted to hospitals yearly. The aim of this study was to obtain an insight in the prevalence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) among Dutch nursing home patients. For this purpose nose cultures were taken from 819 physically disabled nursing home patients in seventeen nursing homes. The nursing homes were all situated in a relative risk area for MRSA: MRSA-strains were isolated frequently in affiliated hospitals. Risk factors for (persistent) MRSA-carriage were evaluated as well as the age and sex of the nursing home patients. The prevalence of MRSA turned out to be very low ; only from one nursing home patient a MRSA strain was isolated.