Successful Veterans Affairs initiative to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections revisited.

In 2011 Jain et al reported a 62% reduction of healthcare-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections that resulted from an intervention bundle. Here we present a mathematical model and prove, using parameters from the study by Jain et al, that the universal screen and isolate strategy can have contributed only marginally to the reduction in infections.