Experts say hospital infection-control policies like screening and isolating infected patients have not been proven effective, according to an article on the Medical Express website.

After reviewing studies on preventing the spread of MRSA, the authors of an article in The Lancet said that although various approaches have been examined, most of the research has looked at bundles of control measures, and they don't yet know which individual components work best, or whether some of them could be omitted, according to the article.

"With the tide of MRSA receding and improved treatment options for the infection, a window of opportunity now exists to reassess whether masks, gowns, gloves, and single rooms add anything to the traditional infection control measures of hand hygiene and universal decolonisation (eg, a daily bath with an antibacterial agent) which have proved much more successful in reducing rates of MRSA," said co-author Professor Bernard Hirschel, president of the Swiss Society of Infectious Diseases.

Read the article.