The national mandatory surveillance system for reporting meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia in England has captured data on the source of reported bacteraemias since 2006. This study analysed episodes of MRSA bacteraemia (N=4404) where a probable source of infection was reported between 2006 and 2009. In 2009, this information was available for one-third of reported episodes of MRSA bacteraemia. Of these, 20% were attributed to intravascular devices and 28% were attributed to skin and soft tissue infection. Sixty-four percent of the patients were male, and urinary tract infection was a significantly more common source of MRSA bacteraemia in males compared with females (12% vs 3%). Detection of bacteraemia within two days of hospital admission does not reliably discriminate between community- and hospital-associated MRSA bacteraemia as community cases are frequently associated with an invasive procedure/device. Between 2006 and 2009, there was a significant decline in the proportion of episodes of MRSA bacteraemia associated with central vascular catheters [incidence rate ratio (IRR) 0.42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.29-0.61; P<0.001], peripheral vascular catheters (IRR 0.69, 95% CI 0.48-0.99; P=0.042) and surgical site infection (IRR 0.42, 95% CI 0.25-0.72; P=0.001), and a significant increase in the proportion of episodes of MRSA bacteraemia associated with skin and soft tissue infection (IRR 1.33, 95% CI 1.05-1.69; P=0.017) and attributed to contamination of the specimen (IRR 1.96, 95% CI 1.25-3.06; P=0.003). Since data were not available for all cases, the generalizability of these trends depends on the assumption that records with source data reflect a reasonably random sample of cases in each year. These changes have occurred in the context of a general decline in the rate of MRSA bacteraemia in England since 2006.
Written by:
Wilson J, Guy R, Elgohari S, Sheridan E, Davies J, Lamagni T, Pearson A. Are you the author?
Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance Department, Health Protection Agency, London, UK.
Reference:J Hosp Infect. 2011 Nov;79(3):211-7.
doi:10.1016/j.jhin.2011.05.013
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21764174