Patient information and directions. Communicable Disease Prevention leaflet issued by the Swedish Society for Communicable Disease Prevention and Control.
What is MRSA?
A bacterial test done on a sample taken from you has found MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
MRSA is more resistant to the most common antibiotics such as penicillin and penicillin-type antibiotics than the usual type of Staphylococcus aureus. In other respects they are not different from ordinary staphylococcus aureus, also known as yellow staphylococci. Many of us have these bacteria in our noses (approx. 30%) or on the skin (approx 10%). Normally, we do not notice these bacteria but they sometimes cause infections, usually of wounds. Yellow staphylococci thrive particularly well if the skin is injured, as it is in wounds or eczema, or where there is a “foreign object” like a urinary catheter.
People who have MRSA can be given a special treatment/information card that makes it easier to provide information about the infection in contacts with the medical services.
How does MRSA spread?
MRSA infection spreads in hospitals but also in other types of care premises, such as in homes for the elderly. Infection can spread via staff’s hands and clothes, or from person to person when one of them is an MRSA carrier. There is a greater risk of infection if you have various “risk factors” such as wounds, eczema or a catheter.
The risk of spreading infection in preschools and schools seems small as long as there are no risk factors.
MRSA is common in many countries, particularly in hospitals. We want to prevent it from spreading in our country, particularly in the medical services and other types of care such as care of the elderly. People who have been in contact with the medical services in other countries or in regions where MRSA is more common, as either a patient or as staff, are therefore to say so in contacts with the Swedish health services.
It is important to use good basic hygiene routines to prevent the spread of MRSA.
How is MRSA treated?
People carrying MRSA usually do not need treatment with antibiotics. If MRSA causes an infection, however, treatment with special antibiotics might be necessary.
Can you get rid of MRSA?
You can be a carrier of MRSA for a short or long period. Unfortunately there is no method that can determine with certainty whether you are free from MRSA. There is a risk that the MRSA can come back if you get a new wound, a new catheter or if you are treated with antibiotics. In contacts with the medical services, it is therefore important that you always say that you have, or have had, MRSA, so that new cultures can be taken. This is to reduce the risk of it spreading to other people, and so that you can be given the right sort of antibiotics if treatment becomes necessary. If you have been given a treatment/information card, you can show it to them.
Can I receive visitors?
There is nothing to stop you from receiving visitors or from visiting others in their homes or in other places.
Do the following to prevent infection in others:
-
Observe good hand hygiene. Use liquid soap and your own towel. It is particularly important to carefully wash your hands if you have touched infected wounds or a catheter.
-
Relatives who help in the care of MRSA carriers must wash their hands carefully.
-
If you have a catheter or wound that is infected with MRSA, the wound is to be well bandaged and the bandage dry when you leave your home. Put used bandages or other material in a plastic bag. Tie up the bag and throw it away with the ordinary household rubbish.
-
When showering/bathing at home, use liquid soap and your own towel. Clean the bath with ordinary cleaning agent when you have had a bath.
-
If you have eczema which breaks the skin, or wounds, then you must not swim in a swimming pool, go to a public sauna or use a solarium.
-
Wash towels and bed linen in temperatures of at least 60 degrees. Clothes are to be washed at the temperature the item will tolerate.
-
Children with wounds or eczema must have healed skin before the child goes back to preschool. Schoolchildren can go to school with a well-bandaged dry wound.
Directions
-
If you work in the medical services/elderly care services/home help services, special regulations apply which you will be given by the doctor in charge of your treatment.
-
You are obliged to say that you are infected with MRSA when you seek medical care, receive medical care/nursing in your home or other residence, and when you receive dental care.
-
You must provide information about your MRSA infection if you are given foot care or if you are having other non-medical procedures done such as a tattoo or piercing.
-
Discuss with the doctor in charge of your treatment whether there are other people around you who run a clear risk of being infected, and who are therefore to be informed.
-
You are obliged to supply test samples as directed by your doctor.
-
You are obliged to stay in regular contact with the doctor in charge of your treatment.
The disease with which you are infected is a hazard to public health under the Swedish Communicable Diseases Act (Smittskyddslagen). You are therefore obliged to follow the directions given by your doctor. If you request, the County Medical Officer (Smittskyddsläkaren) must reconsider the directions.