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Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: associated morbidity and effectivencess of control measures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2009

M. R Law ,
O. N Gill  and
A Turner
M. R Law
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental and Preventive Medicine, Medical College of St Bartholomew's Hospital. Charterhouse Square. London ECIM 6BQ
O. N Gill
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
A Turner
Affiliation:
Public Health Laboratory Service, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ
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Summary

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The strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevalent in south-east England produced in one acute hospital in a year 40 infections (bacteraemia, pneumonia and surgical wound, skin and urinary tract infections) with three attributable deaths. Rigorous measures succeeded in controlling the outbreak despite its extent, but our results suggest that less stringent measures could fail to control outbreaks of this scale. Several subsequent localized outbreaks within the hospital, probably caused by separate re-introductions of MRSA from other hospitals, were controlled by re-instigation of control measures on individual wards. The overall success of the intervention was shown by the decline in the incidence of MRSA infections from 27 in the 6 months beforehand to 2 in the most recent 6 months, and by the decline in the prevalence of colonization among patients 10 or more days in hospital from 52% immediately before the intervention to 3% 7 months after it. The incidence of attributable morbidity and death without control measures warrants a concerted effort to tackle the epidemic in all affected hospitals in Britain.

Type
Research Article
Information
Epidemiology & Infection , Volume 101 , Issue 2 , October 1988 , pp. 301 - 309
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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