Nipigon District Memorial Hospital

MRSA & VRE Public Reporting

Current MRSA & VRE Rates for Nipigon District Memorial Hospital

Information for Patients and Families

Nipigon District Memorial Hospital takes your care and your safety very seriously and we are extremely committed to transparency. On a quarterly basis, beginning in December, we will be reporting our infection rates on our website.
If you have any questions about the information below or about our hospital’s infection prevention and control program, please contact (insert contact information).
Measuring Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) rates.
Nipigon District Memorial Hospital posts its infection rates online on a quarterly basis. On this website, you can find information about hospital-acquired infection rates for MRSA and VRE.

What does hospital-acquired mean?

Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. This is a hospital-acquired infection. In the case of either MRSA or VRE, this may mean that symptoms begin 72 hours after admission to the hospital; or that the infection was present at the time of admission but was related to a previous admission to that hospital within the last 4 weeks.

What is Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)?

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain or all types of the beta-lactam classes of antibiotics such as penicillins, penicillinase-resistant penicillins (e.g. cloxacillin) and cephalosporins. MRSA are strains of S. aureus that have an MIC to oxacillin of = 4 mcg/ml. or contain the mecA gene coding for penicillin binding protein 2a (PBP 2a).

What is Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE)?

Enterococci are bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some instances, enterococci have become resistant to this drug and thus are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). VRE have a minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) to vancomycin of = 32 mcg/ml. They contain the resistance genes VAN-A or VAN-B.

What are the risk factors for MRSA?
Risk factors for MRSA acquisition include invasive procedures, prior treatment with antibiotics, prolonged hospital stay, stay in an intensive care or burn unit, surgical wound infection and close proximity to a colonized person. MRSA can also be transmitted from mother to child through breast milk.

What are the risk factors for VRE?
Risk factors for VRE include severity of underlying illness, presence of invasive devices, prior colonization with VRE, antibiotic use and length of hospital stay.

How is MRSA transmitted?
The single most important mode of transmission of MRSA in a health care setting is via transiently colonized hands of health care workers who acquire it from contact with colonized or infected patients, or after handling contaminated material or equipment. The unrecognized colonized patient presents a particular risk for transmission to other patients.

How is VRE transmitted?
The single most important mode of transmission of VRE in a health care setting is via transiently colonized hands of health care workers who acquire it from contact with colonized or infected patients, or after handling contaminated material or equipment. The unrecognized colonized patient presents a particular risk for transmission to other patients.