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Increasing Prevalence of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

John M. Boyce
John M. Boyce*
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine, Miriam Hospital and Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, The Miriam Hospital, 164 Summit Ave., Providence, RI 02906
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Abstract

In the period 1975 to 1981, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen in tertiary care centers in the United States. To determine if the prevalence of this organism has continued to increase, a questionnaire was sent to hospital epidemiologists in 360 acute care hospitals. A total of 256 (71%) of the 360 individuals responded. Overall, 97% (246/256) of responding hospitals reported having patients with MRSA in the period 1987 through 1989. Respondents in 217 hospitals provided estimates of the number of cases seen in 1987, 1988 and 1989. The percentage of respondents reporting one or more patients with MRSA increased from 88% in 1987 to 96.3% in 1989 (p = .0008). The percent of respondents reporting large numbers (≥50) of cases per year increased from 18% in 1987 to 32% in 1989 (p = .0006). Increasing frequency of large outbreaks was observed in community, community-teaching, federal, municipal and university hospitals.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 11 , Issue 12 , December 1990 , pp. 639 - 642
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1990

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