Advancing the science of Staphylococcus aureus infection prevention in the neonatal intensive care unit

Despite advances in infection prevention, infections due to Staphylococcus aureus continue to be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in NICUs. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) using advanced analytic approaches for defining transmission have shed new insights into transmission and persistence patterns in the NICU. WGS has also helped uncover important associations between transmission, persistence, and the risk of invasive infections. Current infection prevention strategies rely on hand hygiene compliance and surveillance and decolonization of patients positive for S. aureus. Parent decolonization may also play a role in decreasing parent-child transmission. In the future, precision surveillance of high-risk strains and targeted infection prevention efforts to decrease bacterial burden of those specific strains may provide a more effective and efficient approach to decreasing risk of invasive infections.