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

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

John M. Boyce  and
William A. Causey
John M. Boyce*
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine and Infection Control, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi
William A. Causey
Affiliation:
Departments of Medicine and Infection Control, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi
*
Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 N. State Street, Jackson MS 39216
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Abstract

Although several outbreaks of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have been reported in recent years, the geographic distribution and frequency of MRSA infections in American hospitals is unknown. We conducted a questionnaire survey to determine the magnitude of the problem. Data from 261 hospitals were included in the survey. MRSA were reported by 145 hospitals located in 36 states. Large hospitals reported these organisms significantly more often than small hospitals (p<.001). University hospitals reported MRSA more often than community or community-teaching hospitals (p<.001 and p<.005, respectively). The number of hospitals reporting MRSA increased from 24 in 1975 to 112 in 1980 (p<.001). Our data suggest that MRSA are widely distributed geographically and that the number of hospitals with these organisms has increased dramatically since 1975.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 3 , Issue 5 , October 1982 , pp. 377 - 383
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1982

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