Are we doing enough to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus outbreaks?

摘要

Colonization increases risk of infection and colonization with Staphylococcus aureus or methicillin-resistant 5. aureus (MRSA) is quite common, most often involves the anterior nares, and is often asymptomatic in both healthy and hospitalized individuals (1).Methicillin was introduced in the early 1960s and almost concurrently MRSA was first identified. During the 1970s, there was a fall in its incidence followed by a steady rise until (2); in the late 1990s, the levels of MRSA reached approximately 30% in many countries, and the first reports of community-associated MRSA began to appear in the literature (3-5). The increase in the incidence of MRSA over this half century have made MRSA infections a major problem in hospitals worldwide and rates of MRSA infection now represent indicators of the quality of patient care to both the patients and the public.The spread of MRSA, as we noted, has been reported worldwide with prevalence varying according to the type of ward (intensive-care units [ICUs], outpatient) and geographic area. Overall, MRSA accounts for 25% of all S. aureus isolates and ICUs account for 38%. If we consider the S. aureus strains responsible for nos-ocomial pneumonia, the prevalence of MRSA is 34% (6).