Last Updated: 2007-10-16 16:00:38 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New research indicates that so-called MRSA infections, which are resistant to many antibiotics, are still mostly acquired in health-care settings, but they are no longer confined to acute care hospitals and intensive care units.
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is sometimes termed a superbug because it is so difficult to eradicate once it causes an infection.
To look into the extent of serious MRSA infections in the United States, Dr. R. Monina Klevens from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and colleagues analyzed data from nine sites participating in a surveillance program from July 2004 through December 2005.
This included a population of approximately 16.5 million people, or 5.6 percent of the total U.S. population, the team notes in its report in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.
A total of 8,967 cases of serious MRSA infection were identified during the study period, the report shows. Eighty-five percent of these cases were associated with providing health care in some form, including those that were picked up in either the hospital or the general community.
Risk factors associated with MRSA infection included older age, black race, and male gender.
The investigators calculate that in 2005, 31.8 cases of serious MRSA infection occurred in every 100,000 people.
Overall, 1598 MRSA-related deaths were logged during the surveillance period, the authors note. That's equivalent to 6.3 deaths for every 100,000 people.
Serious MRSA infection "is a major public health problem and is primarily related to health care, but no longer confined to acute care," Klevens and colleagues conclude. Although most cases were related to healthcare, "this may change," they add.
"These numbers show that many families are being affected by these drug-resistant infections," Dr. Denise Cardo, director of the CDC's Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, said in a statement. "Healthcare facilities need to make MRSA prevention a greater priority."
If the figures in the study are correct, MRSA-related deaths "exceed the total number of deaths attributable to HIV/AIDS in the United States in 2005," Dr. Elizabeth A. Bancroft points out in an accompanying editorial.
Bancroft, of the Los Angeles County Department of Health, also suspects that serious MRSA infections are "only the tip of the drug-resistance iceberg."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, October 17, 2007.
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