Elderly residents living in large nursing homes or infacilities with many long-term residents are more likely to suffer from staph infections, according to a new study. Presented at the 42nd Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, held in San Diego from Sept.2 7-30, the study examined the transmission of S.aureusin German nursing home residents for the purpose of identifying predictors for a home's transmission rate. The significant predictors for the staph transmission were the size of the facility and the proportion of residents who stayed in the facility longer than six months. The authors of the study thus conclude that a facility's basic structural properties have more to do with staph transmission rates than its case mix.