Inference and control of the nosocomial transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Pei, Sen; Morone, Flaviano; Liljeros, Fredrik; Makse, Hernán; Shaman, Jeffrey L

The computer models developed by Pei et al. may help researchers, clinicians and public health officials working to control the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The model can improve our understanding of how antibiotic resistant bacteria spread in healthcare facilities and may enable the development of more effective strategies to control these pathogens. Infection-control strategies created with this system must first be tested in isolated, real-world settings to verify they work before they can be deployed broadly. Cooper et al., 2004b; Hubben et al., 2011; Worby et al., 2013) . In retrospective control experiments, decolonization of potentially colonized patients outperforms heuristic intervention strategies based on number of contacts, length of stay and contact tracing. These findings indicate that the model-inference system can inform effective, actionable and cost-effective measures for reducing nosocomial transmission.