Preemptive isolation to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus cross-transmission in diabetic foot.

Dedicated foot units have been developed to improve diabetic foot ulcers management. However, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is isolated from 20 to 30% of infected diabetic foot ulcers (1–3). Consequently, placing colonized patients and at-risk patients with open wounds in the same unit may speed up MRSA cross-transmission (4). Therefore, although the impact of MRSA on the outcome of the ulcer remains debatable (5,6), the prevention of MRSA cross-transmission should be a priority in such units (6–8). The implementation of strict isolation precautions is highly recommended (9–12) because MRSA is mainly transmitted through the hands of transiently colonized health care personnel (9,13,14). Our objective was to assess the efficiency of preemptive isolation procedures implemented in a diabetic foot unit to prevent MRSA cross-transmission. All patients consecutively admitted to …