MRSA Contamination

We read this intervention study with interest and were impressed with the effect of staff education on the number of positive cultures obtained from Doppler probes. We recently performed a similar audit of Doppler probes, computer keyboards and mouse terminals on our vascular wards to identify specifically contamination with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which the authors did not specify in their study. Of all the potential cross-contaminating organisms, MRSA is the most clinically relevant as MRSA infection in vascular patients can be a fatal complication.¹

With staff unaware of the audit in process (but using our standard hospital decontamination and ward-cleaning protocols), over 5 days we were unable to culture any organisms from the Doppler probes, indicating that our systems were probably adequate to prevent probe cross-contamination; however, MRSA was cultured from 3% of the keyboards and mouse terminals sampled (n = 31). MRSA contamination of keyboards and mouse terminals has been previously reported,² but with increasing use of computer software in frontline patient management such as PACS terminals and bed-side communication systems, hospitals need to address the problem of ‘electronic’ contamination of MRSA urgently.