Measuring Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) rates.
Lake of the Woods District 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 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 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. 

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. 

MRSA Rate
The method of calculation of the MRSA bacteraemia infection rate for the reporting period (on a quarterly basis) is: 

Number_of_nosocomial_patients_with_laboratory_identification_of_MRSA_bacteraemia_x_1000
Total number of patient days