The rates of community-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CO-MRSA) varied dramatically among academic medical centers in California, New York, Illinois and North Carolina, suggesting there is not a uniform change in the “national epidemic” of the “superbug” that has generated extensive public health concern over the past decade, according to a new study. Continue reading
New superbug discovered
An international research team led by Cesar A. Arias, M.D., Ph.D., at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has identified a new superbug that caused a bloodstream infection in a Brazilian patient. Continue reading
Global epidemiology of MRSA
In the pre-antibiotic era, S. aureus bacteraemia was usually fatal. In a review of cases in the early 1940s, mortality amongst 122 consecutive patients was 82%, and was 98% in those aged >50 years. In the modern era, it is estimated that 25–35% of healthy human individuals carry S. aureus on the skin or mucous membranes. Continue reading
Treat everyone for MRSA
Treating every single patient who enters an intensive care unit with special disinfectant soaps and ointments drastically reduces the spread of the drug-resistant bacteria MRSA and cuts the rate of bloodstream infections in hospitals, a new study shows. Continue reading