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Incidence of MRSA decreased from 2005-2010
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Among Department of Defense TRICARE beneficiaries, the rates of community-onset and hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus decreased from 2005 to 2010, recent data suggest.
Researchers from the infectious disease service of the San Antonio Military Medical Center conducted an observational study of all Department of Defense TRICARE beneficiaries to identify the annual incidence rates of both community-onset and hospital-onset S. aureus bacteremia and skin and soft tissue infections. They searched medical record databases for all positive S. aureus blood and wound or abscess cultures, both MRSA and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA).
From 2005 to 2010, the unadjusted rates of S. aureus were 4.7 per 100,000 person-years for bacteremia and 142.8 per 100,000 person-years for skin and soft tissue infections. For community-onset S. aureus, the unadjusted rates significantly decreased for both MRSA and MSSA from 2005 to 2010. For MRSA, the rate decreased from 1.7 per 100,000 person-years to 1.2 per 100,000 person-years and for MSSA, the rate decreased from 2.9 per 100,000 person-years to 1.7 per 100,000 person years.
For hospital-onset S. aureus, the annual incidence of MRSA bacteremia decreased from 0.7 per 100,000 person-years to 0.4 per 100,000 person-years.
“These observations, taken together with results from others showing decreases in the rates of health care-associated infections from MRSA, suggest that broad shifts in the epidemiology of S. aureus infections may be occurring,” the researchers wrote. “Additional studies are needed to assess whether these trends will continue, which prevention methods are most effective and to what degree other factors may be contributing.”
References:
Landrum ML. JAMA. 2012;308:50-59.
Disclosures:
The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.