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Invasive MRSA infections more common in black children
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Cases of invasive community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus increased in the pediatric community during a 5-year study period, according to recent study results published in Pediatrics.
Researchers evaluated 876 cases of invasive MRSA infections among 834 pediatric patients from 2005 to 2010. Of the total population, the median age at time of infection was 2.1 years, with 39% of cases occurring in infants younger than 1 year, and 59% of patients were male. For those cases in which race was available (n=682), 59% were black, 36% were white and 5% were of other races.
Ninety-one percent of the cases were hospitalized and 6% were fatal. Thirty-five percent of cases were hospital-onset MRSA, 23% were health care-associated community-onset and 42% were community-onset. Invasive CA-MRSA increased from 1.1 per 100,000 in 2005 to 1.7 per 100,000 in 2010. Infants younger than 90 days had a higher invasive MRSA incidence in 2010 (43.9 per 100,000) compared with older infants and children (two per 100,000). Black children also had a higher incidence of invasive MRSA incidence in 2010 (6.7 per 100,000) compared with the other races (1.6 per 100,000).
“In summary, invasive MRSA infection in children appears to disproportionately affect young infants and black children,” the researchers wrote. “In contrast to declining incidence among adult and NICU patients, there were no significant reductions in invasive health care-associated MRSA infections in children older than 3 months during 2005 to 2010. Concurrently, the incidence of invasive community-associated MRSA infections increased.”
Disclosure: The study was funded in part by the Emerging Infectious Program of the CDC.
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