MRSA lives in the community just as much, if not more, than it lives in the hospitals. From what I know of the area, some hospitals had up to 80% community-acqu

MRSA lives in the community just as much, if not more, than it lives in the hospitals. From what I know of the area, some hospitals had up to 80% community-acquired infections as opposed to hospital-acquired infections, this meant that the majority of these patients were being killed by their families. I know many ICU's in the UK have full out bans on any family members entering, because if anyone in an ICU catches MRSA they're gone. It's easy to blame the healthcare providers, and I'm sure in many cases it is the healthcare providers' fault. However, if they simply flat-out banned people from visiting in the hospital MRSA infection rates (in good hospitals) would drop like a rock. I wouldn't be surprised if hospitals with MRSA fatality rates over 20% allow visitors in the ICU and don't have well established visitor protocols in the regular hospital. I know some wards in the UK (I have friends and family who work in hospitals) will escort you out if they see you go between patients' beds; essentially they allow you to visit 1 person per day, and they frequently have visiting hours only a couple hours long so they can actively enforce this. My advice to anyone visiting a friend in hospital, don't touch them. No handshakes, especially no hugs. This seems extreme, but patients have died from MRSA infection in key-hole surgery incisions.