Acquisition of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the acute care setting: incidence and risk factors.

Our objective was to assess the incidence of and risk factors for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) acquisition among patients in acute care wards. For 5 months, patients were screened for MRSA colonization at admission and at discharge. At admission, 6.6% of patients had cultures positive for MRSA, and 3.1% of patients who had tested negative for MRSA on admission had cultures positive for MRSA at discharge. Only the presence of chronic skin breaks at admission was independently associated with MRSA acquisition.