Most antibiotic-resistant golden staph infections are now occurring outside the hospital, a study has found.
Analysis of pathology results from about 40,000 patients between 2008 and 2014 shows nearly 60 per cent of drug-resistant staph infections were picked up in the community.
Patients most at risk of a community-acquired infection are likely to be younger than 40, indigenous Australian, or resident of an aged-care facility, say the researchers, who published the results of the study in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Lead researcher Dr Jason Agostino, from the Australian National University, says infection control needs to shift from hospitals to the community.
"The problem of infections resistant to antibiotics in our community is not just a theoretical problem that will happen some time in the future - it's happening right now," Dr Agostino warned.
A staph infection occurs when the staphylococcus bacteria invades the body, resulting most commonly in skin infections such as boils. It can be potentially deadly when the bacteria enters the bloodstream, causing sepsis.
Until the early 2000s, staph infections resistant to antibiotics mostly occurred in hospitals.
However, the research shows hospital infection rates are improving, with decreased infections in two of the region's largest hospitals.
"It's great to see a drop in drug-resistant staph infections in hospitals but we need to develop more targeted use of antibiotics in the community," Dr Agostino said.
