The federal government has reported that infections caused by MRSA or the bacterium methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, are declining and this happens to be a good news for healthcare settings.

In cases of MRSA contracted in hospitals between 2005-2008 there was a 28 per cent decline, according to an analysis conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There was also a 17 per cent reduction in cases that were contracted outside healthcare settings.

It has not been clear that what is causing the decline in MRSA cases but the Department of Health and Human Service, hospital administrators and infection-control officials are happy about the news as they had made preventing these infections a priority for them.

Dr. Ghinwa Dumyati, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center who directed one of the surveillance sites included in the study said, "We're very happy about this. Hospitals have done a lot over the past decade to make care safer."

Out of all the infection that spreads easily, MRSA has been the most prominent as it spreads to bones, joints, lungs and soft tissue.