Screening every patient for potentially deadly staphylococcus infections can cut their spread inside hospitals by up to 70 percent, but federal health officials have not endorsed the disease-fighting tactic.

“It?s effective. We believe in it, and we?ve been doing it for years,” said nurse Polly Ristaino, infection control coordinator with St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, where universal screening is practiced in the intensive care unit. “We?re considering expanding it to other units in our hospital.”