VIRGINIA BEACH -- A Virginia Beach man with a confirmed case of MRSA says he contracted it at Sentara’s Princess Anne Emergency Room.

The patient, Tony Durden, has been moved to Sentara Virginia Beach General, but his family is asking how he contracted the drug-resistant staph infection, and the hospital is searching for the source.

After nine days, Durden is still in the hospital with a broken leg, and has yet to have surgery due to MRSA.

Video: Man claims he contracted MRSA at hospital

Larger screen

“The instant that I found out, they told me I had MRSA, they told me I could no longer leave the room,” he recalled. “I’m very upset; the fact that I came here to get better for one thing, and I wound up contracting something completely different that could possibly cost you your life.”

He is convinced he contracted it at Sentara Princess Anne’s Emergency Room, where he went for treatment after falling off his moped and breaking his leg.

The pipe-fitter and his wife are both convinced he acquired the highly contagious staph infection when an IV was inserted into his arm.

“‘Cause it was right in the IV site, where they initially put the first IV,” Durden’s wife, Michelle, said.

Infectious disease experts warn that the most common place to acquire a staph infection is in a health care setting.

Sentara says it has not seen an unusual spike in the number of cases of MRSA, but whether any came from the Princess Anne campus is not available.

Meanwhile, the Durdens, who do not have heath insurance, hope their bill will not reflect anything other than the costs of the broken leg.