People who drink hot tea or coffee are less likely to carry methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in their noses, researchers found. Drinking either beverage was associated with about a 50% relative reduction in the odds of nasal MRSA carriage, and drinking both was associated with a 67% reduction, according to Eric Matheson, MD, of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, and colleagues. The findings, reported in the July/August issue of Annals of Family Medicine, “raise the possibility of a promising new method to decrease MRSA nasal carriage that is safe, inexpensive, and easily accessible,” they wrote.
