Abstract
The endemic threat of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in nursing homes poses a serious and escalating challenge to public health administration in infection control. Nursing homes are considered as major reservoirs for MRSA colonization, with considerable high levels of colonization prevalence. We employed a computation model to evaluate effects of three intervention scenarios on MRSA colonization prevalence rate in nursing homes. Simulations were conducted using a deterministic compartmental model featuring heterogeneous contact matrix between residents and health-care workers (HCWs). Contact parameters were derived from a nursing home survey. Three intervention scenarios were simulated: (1) hand-hygiene compliance by HCWs, (2) screening-and-isolation upon admission, and (3) implementing both interventions at the same time. For every 10% reduction in average contamination duration in HCWs, the estimated average reduction in prevalence rate was 1.29 percentage point compared with the prevalence rate before the intervention was implemented. Screening-and-isolation intervention resulted in an average reduction of 19.04 percentage point in prevalence rate (S.D. = 1.58; 95% CI = 18.90–19.18). In intervention scenario 3, synergistic effects were observed when implementing hand-hygiene compliance by HCWs and screening-and-isolation together. Our results provide evidence showing that implementing multiple interventions together has a synergistic effect on colonization prevalence reduction.
Highlights
Our study further extended this computation model to evaluate the effect of two interventions to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization prevalence: (1) hand-hygiene compliance by healthcare workers (HCWs) and (2) screening-and-isolation upon admission
It is further estimated that for every 10% reduction in average contamination duration, there is an average reduction of 1.29 percentage point in prevalence rate compared with the prevalence rate before the intervention was implemented
Wepresented presenteda acomputational computationalmodel modelwith withheterogeneous heterogeneoussocial socialcontact contactmixing mixingtoto simulate the transmission of in nursing homes. This approach can be used to simulate the transmission of MRSA in nursing homes
Summary
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become one of the major pressing public health threats and challenges globally. Antibiotics are widely used to combat life-threatening bacterial diseases. The imprudent use of antibiotics contributes to resistance among pathogenic microorganisms which in turn threatens the effective treatment of bacterial, parasitic, viral, and fungal infection. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a multi-drug resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus, and is regarded as one of the major AMR pathogens. Among the 18 drug-resistant threats identified by the United
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