• Yhu-Chering Huang, Rey-In Lien, and Tzou-Yien Lin.
• From the *Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases and †Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan; and ‡School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Kweishan, Taoyuan, Taiwan.
• Pediatr. Infect. Dis. J. 2015 Mar 1; 34 (3): 241-5.

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether topical mupirocin treatment can effectively decolonize methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage and reduce subsequent MRSA infection in neonates.MethodsDuring a 1-year period, the infants admitted to our neonatal intensive care units (NICUs)-1 and NICU-2 were included, and specimens from the nares and umbilicus were obtained within 24 hours, and specimen collection was repeated weekly for 2 weeks. Mupirocin was administered for 5 days to the infants with MRSA colonization in NICU-1 during the first half of the year and then switched to those in NICU-2 during the second half of the year.ResultsA total of 525 infants were recruited: 257 infants in the treatment group and 268 in the control group. MRSA colonization was detected in 130 infants (25%) during NICU stay, which is a similar rate in both groups. Twenty-two (4.2%) episodes of MRSA infection were identified. The rate of MRSA infection was significantly higher in infants with prior colonization than in those without (10.2% vs. 2.3%, P<0.001). Among the infants with prior colonization, the rate of MRSA infection in the treatment group was significantly lower than that in the control group (3.2% vs. 16%, P=0.014), and the rate in the treatment group was comparable to that in those without colonization (P=0.7804). Of the 15 infants with both clinical and colonizing isolates, indistinguishable strains between the paired isolates from the same infant by molecular methods were identified in 14 infants (93%).ConclusionAdministering mupirocin topical therapy to MRSA-colonized infants in NICUs might reduce subsequent MRSA infections during hospitalization in these infants. A large-scale study should be conducted.

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