Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is responsible for eight percent of all hospital-acquired infections in the United States, leading to upwards of 20,000 deaths per year. Several states have passed legislation mandating screening of hospital patients for MRSA. How effective are these screening programs? Dr. John Jernigan, chief of the interventions and evaluation section in the division of healthcare quality promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), talks with host Dr. Jennifer Shu about the CDC's role in controlling MRSA infections in healthcare settings.