An active methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) screening and decolonization program in the neonatal intensive care (NICU) unit can lead to a sustained reduction in the incidence of clinical S. aureus isolates, according to a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. Staphylococcus aureus remains a leading cause of hospital-acquired infections in neonates. While some NICUs use active surveillance cultures (ASCs) and decolonization to prevent methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) transmission and infections, methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) infections occur even more frequently in neonate populations and have similar mortality. Prior to April 2013, the Johns Hopkins NICU screened neonates for MRSA colonization and carriers were decolonized. However, the program was subsequently expanded to include MSSA screening and decolonization. Researchers previously showed that implementation of MSSA ASCs and targeted decolonization resulted in decreases in S. aureus clinical cultures and infections decreased, but examined more recent data (April 1, 2011, through June 30, 2016) to assess whether the reduction was sustained over 3 years. The researchers found that over the 24 months before implementation of the screening and decolonization intervention (29,200 patient days) there were 74 NICU-attributable S. aureus clinical cultures versus 68 in the 39 months post-implementation (47,135 patient days).  Overall, there […]