Health Disparities in Staphylococcus aureus Transmission and Carriage in a Border Region of the United States Based on Cultural Differences in Social Relationships: Protocol for a Survey Study.

Background: Health care-associated Staphylococcus aureus infections are declining but remain common. Conversely, rates of community-associated infections have not decreased because of the inadequacy of public health mechanisms to control transmission in a community setting. Our long-term goal is to use risk-based information from empirical socio-cultural-biological evidence of carriage and transmission to inform intervention strategies that reduce S aureus transmission in the community.