Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)

Statutory notification

• Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonisation or infection is notifiable in Western Australia.
• Case definition: See notifiable communicable disease case definitions (Word 1.29MB).
• Notification: Private and public laboratories that identify MRSA cases are required to forward the isolate with patient details to the PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA Gram-positive Reference Laboratory located at Fiona Stanley Hospital.
• See also description of statutory medical notifications in Western Australia.

Public health summary

• Infectious agent: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
• Transmission: Person to person by direct contact with another person with a purulent lesion or purulent discharge or from a person with asymptomatic carriage (colonisation). Auto infection is also common.
• Incubation period: Variable.
• Infectious period: As long as purulent lesions continue to drain or the carrier state persists.
• Case exclusion: See recommended exclusion for healthcare workers in Guidelines for the Screening and Management of MRSA in Healthcare Workers (exernal site). Healthcare facility patients colonised or infected with MRSA should be managed in a single room with dedicated bathroom facilities as per the Guidelines for the Screening and Management of Multi-resistant Organisms in Healthcare Facilities (PDF 841KB).
• Contact exclusion: Do not exclude.
• Treatment: Antibiotic treatment for clinical infections as recommended by the doctor.
• Immunisation: None available.
• Case follow-up: Is conducted by hospitals, public health units and the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, as required.

Information and resources for health providers

• Management of CA-MRSA – information for healthcare providers (PDF 1.2MB)
• MRSA decolonisation treatment – information for healthcare providers (PDF 1.2MB)
• MRSA decolonisation treatment – information for consumers (Healthy WA)
• Guidelines for the Screening and Management of Multi-resistant Organisms in Healthcare Facilities (PDF 841KB).

Notifiable disease data and reports

MRSA infection or colonisation is a notifiable condition via laboratory notification in WA. Private and public laboratories that identify MRSA cases are required to forward the MRSA isolate with patient details to the PathWest Laboratory Medicine WA Gram-positive Reference Laboratory located at Fiona Stanley Hospital. The PathWest Gram-positive Reference Laboratory works in collaboration with the Antimicrobial Resistance Infectious Diseases Research (AMR-ID) Laboratory at Murdoch University. MRSA surveillance data are reported separately to other notifiable infectious disease data. See the latest Western Australian Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Epidemiology and Typing Report 2022-2023 (PDF 1.5MB).