Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hospitalized Adults and Children without Known Risk Factors.
Gorak, Edward J.; Yamada, Stephen M.; Brown, Joel D.
[Article]
Clinical Infectious Diseases.
29(4):797-800, August 15, 1999.
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Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are not commonly recognized in healthy patients without predisposing risk. We performed a retrospective study of patients hospitalized with community-acquired MRSA infections from 1992 to 1996 in Honolulu to determine if community-acquired MRSA infections occurred in patients without known risk. Patients hospitalized within the previous 6 months or transferred from other hospitals or nursing homes were excluded. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained from an inpatient chart review. Ten (71%) of 14 patients with community-acquired MRSA infection had no discernible characteristics of MRSA infections. Thirteen (93%) patients had skin or soft-tissue infections and one patient had MRSA pneumonia. Isolates from patients with MRSA infection were more likely to be susceptible to ciprofloxacin (P = .05), clindamycin (P = .03), and erythromycin (P = .01) than were those from MRSA-colonized patients. In our population, the majority of community-acquired MRSA infections occurred in previously healthy individuals without characteristics suggestive of MRSA transmission.
(C) Copyright Oxford University Press 1999.