Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T00:46:15.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the Community: New Battlefronts, or Are the Battles Lost?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Barry David Cookson*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Hospital Infection, Central Public Health Laboratory, London, United Kingdom

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is an important cause of nosocomial infections worldwide. Interpretation of community MRSA trends is problematical, in that the term is ill-defined, and related data are difficult to put into context. There are four relevant battlefronts, all of interest to risk assessment and prevention. These comprise the following: the issues relating to an increasing pool of patients with MRSA discharged from hospitals into the community; MRSA spreading to patients in nursing and residential homes; and MRSA spreading from patients and healthcare workers to others in the community. There are often difficulties in determining whether the fourth issue, MRSA arising apparently de novo in the community, is in fact due to one of these other fronts. All these battlefronts are important and not yet lost. However, we must agree on definitions and design-appropriate surveillance strategies, so that we can best inform prevention and control activities to contain these emerged or emerging problems.

Type
Reviews
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Jevons, MP. Celbenin-resistant staphylococci. BMJ 1961;1:124.Google Scholar
2. Borowski, J, Kamienska, K, Rutecka, I. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci. BMJ 1964;1:983.Google Scholar
3. Parker, MT, Hewitt, JH. Methicillin resistance in Staphylococcus aureus . Lancet 1970;1:800804.Google Scholar
4. Wu, S, de Lencastre, H, Tomasz, A. Genetic organisation of the mecA region in methicillin-susceptible and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus sciuri . J Bacteriol 1997;180:236242.Google Scholar
5. Matsuhashi, M, Song, MD, Ishino, F, Wachi, M, Doi, M, Inoue, M, et al. Molecular cloning of the gene of a penicillin-binding protein supposed to cause high resistance to β-lactam antibiotics in Staphylococcus aureus . J Bacteriol 1986;167:975980.Google Scholar
6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Four pediatric deaths from community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus—Minnesota and North Dakota, 1997-1999. MMWR 1999;48:707710.Google Scholar
7. Ayliffe, GAJ, Blemkinsop, R, Cooke, EM, Casewell, MWC, Cookson, BD, Cox, RA, et al. Guidelines for the control of epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in elderly care and nursing homes. Report of a combined working party of the Hospital Infection Society and the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. J Hosp Infect 1995;31:112.Google Scholar
8. Revised guidelines for the control of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections in hospitals. British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Hospital Infection Society and the Infection Control Nurses Association. J Hosp Infect 1998;39:253290.Google Scholar
9. Hospital Infection Control 1999;October Issue.Google Scholar
10. Cookson, BD, Peters, B, Webster, M, Phillips, I, Rahman, M, Noble, W. Staff carriage of epidemic methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . J Clin Microbiol 1989;27:14711476.Google Scholar
11. Boyce, JM. Are the epidemiology and microbiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus changing? JAMA 1998;279:623624.Google Scholar
12. Goetz, A, Posey, K, Fleming, J, Jacobs, S, Boody, L, Wagener, MM, et al. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the community: a hospital-based study. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1999;20:689691.Google Scholar
13. Kinsman, OS, Mackenna, R, Noble, WC. Association between histocompatibility antigens (HLA) and nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus . J Med Microbiol 1983;16:215220.Google Scholar
14. Cookson, BD, Phillips, I. Methicillin-resistant staphylococci. J Appl Bacteriol 1990;69(suppl 19):55S70S.Google Scholar
15. Rahman, A, Mackenzie, D, Marples, R, Cookson, BD. Identification of MRSA incidents in hospitals. J Hosp Infect 1995;30:7678.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
16. French, G, Cheng, AFB, Ling, JML, Mo, P Donnan, S. Hong Kong strains of methicillin-resistant and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus have similar virulence. J Hosp Infect 1990;15:117125.Google Scholar
17. Kerr, S, Kerr, GE, Mackintosh, CA, Marples, RR. A survey of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus affecting patients in England and Wales. J Hosp Infect 1990;16:3548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
18. Cookson, BD. Nosocomial antimicrobial resistance surveillance. J Hosp Infect 1999;43(suppl):S97S103.Google Scholar
19. Marples, RR, Cooke, EM. Current problems with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . J Hosp Infect 1988;11:381392.Google Scholar
20. Masterton, RG, Coia, JE, Notman, AW, Kempton-Smith, L, Cookson, BD. Refractory methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus carriage associated with contamination of the home environment. J Hosp Infect 1995;29:318319.Google Scholar
21. Cookson, BD. Selective staphylococcal broth. J Clin Microbiol 1990;28:23802381.Google Scholar
22. Holiis, RJ, Barr, JL, Doebbeling, BN, Pfaller, MA, Wenzel, RP. Familial carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and subsequent infection in a premature neonate. Clin Infect Dis 1995;21:328332.Google Scholar
23. Lindenmayer, JM, Schoenfeld, S, O'Grady, R, Carney, JK. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a high school wrestling team and the surrounding community. Arch Intern Med 1998;158:895899.Google Scholar
24. Saravolatz, LD, Markowitz, N, Arking, L, Pohlod, MS, Fisher, E, Arbor, A. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Ann Intern Med 1982;96:1116.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
25. Moreno, F, Crisp, C, Jorgensen, JH, Patterson, JE. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a community organism. Clin Infect Dis 1995;21:13081312.Google Scholar
26. Bloch, KC, Gerberding, JL. Sample size could limit the power of case-control studies for determining risk factors for community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . Clin Infect Dis 1996;23:851852.Google Scholar
27. Layton, MC, Hierholzer, WJ, Patterson, JE. The evolving epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus at a university hospital. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1995;16:1217.Google Scholar
28. Herold, BC, Immergluck, LC, Maranan, MC, Lauderdale, DS, Gaskin, RE, Boyle-Vavra, S, et al. Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in children with no identified predisposing risk. JAMA 1998;279:593598.Google Scholar
29. Adcock, PM, Pastor, P, Medley, F, Patterson, JE, Murphy, TV. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in two child care centers. J Infect Dis 1998;178:577580.Google Scholar
30. Shanin, R, Johnson, IL, Jamieson, F. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a child care centre following a case of disease. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1999;153:864868.Google Scholar
31. Riley, TV, Pearmen, JW, Rouse, II. Changing epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Western Australia. Med J Aust 1995;163:412414.Google Scholar
32. Maguire, GP, Arthur, AD, Boustead, PJ, Dwyer, B, Currie, BJ. Clinical experience and outcomes of community-acquired and nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a northern Australian hospital. J Hosp Infect 1998;38:273281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
33. Rings, T, Findlay, R, Lang, S. Ethnicity and methicillin-resistant S aureus in South Auckland. N Z Med J 1998;111:151.Google Scholar
34. Collignon, P. Increased incidence of methicillin-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus in the community. J Infect Dis 1999;179:1592.Google Scholar
35. Gross-Schulman, S, Dassey, D, Mascola, L, Anaya, C. Community-acquired methiculin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus . JAMA 1998;280:421422.Google Scholar
36. Stacey, AR, Endersby, KE, Chan, PC, Marples, RR. An outbreak of MRSA infection in a rugby football team. Brit J Sports Med 1998;32:153154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
37. Groos, A, Naimi, T, Wolsey, D, Smith-Johnson, K, Moore, K, Cheek, J. Emergence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in a rural American Indian community. Presented at the 39th Annual Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy; September 26-29,1999; San Francisco, CA. Abstract 1230.Google Scholar
38. Embil, J, Ramotar, K, Romance, L, Alfa, M, Conly, J, Cronk, S, et al. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in tertiary care institutions on the Canadian Prairies 1990-1992. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1994;15:646651.Google Scholar