Improving surveillance of MRSA bacteraemia

doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7523.976

BMJ 2005;331:976-977 (29 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7523.976

Editorial

Improving surveillance of MRSA bacteraemia

Should focus more on patients bringing strains to hospital onreadmission

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Two papers in this week's BMJ consider from different perspectivesthe limitations of England's mandatory surveillance system formethicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemia.^1
2This surveillance became compulsory in April 2001 in responseto the rise in MRSA bacteraemias from less than 2% of all Saureus bacteraemias in 1990 to 42% in 2000.³ The Departmentof Health publishes the results for each English NHS acute trustevery six months.⁴ In 2004 the secretary of state for healthannounced that these infections would be halved by 2008 andmonitored by the Healthcare Commission.⁵

The paper by Wyllie and colleagues focuses on the high proportionof MRSA bacteraemias among patients on admission to hospital.¹These bacteraemias were not necessarily acquired in the community,however, since nearly all these patients had previously stayedin hospital, where they could have been exposed to MRSA andsome were known to have had MRSA . . . [Full text of this article]

Georgia Duckworth, director, department of healthcare-associated infection and antimicrobial resistance

(georgia.duckworth@hpa.org.uk)
Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London NW9 5EQ.

Andr Charlett, interim director, statistics, modelling, and bioinformatics department

Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, London NW9 5EQ.

CiteULike

Complore

Connotea

Del.icio.us Add to Digg

Digg

StumbleUpon Add to Technorati

Technorati What's this?

Relevant Articles

Reducing dialysis associated bacteraemia, and recommendations for surveillance in the United Kingdom: prospective study: Abraham George, Jerome I Tokars, Elaine J Clutterbuck, Kathleen B Bamford, Charles Pusey, and Alison H Holmes
BMJ 2006 332: 1435. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Improving surveillance of MRSA bacteraemia: The tragedy of targets: Anthony P Morton
BMJ 2005 331: 1143-1144. [Extract] [Full Text]

Complicated questions—difficult answers: Jane Smith
BMJ 2005 331: 0. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Problems in assessing rates of infection with methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus: David J Spiegelhalter
BMJ 2005 331: 1013-1015. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

MRSA bacteraemia in patients on arrival in hospital: a cohort study in Oxfordshire 1997-2003: David H Wyllie, Tim E A Peto, and Derrick Crook
BMJ 2005 331: 992. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Eradication of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus by "ring fencing" of elective orthopaedic beds: Leela C Biant, E Louise Teare, William W Williams, and Jeremy D Tuite
BMJ 2004 329: 149-151. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Nottingham Staphylococcus aureus population study: prevalence of MRSA among elderly people in the community: Hajo Grundmann, Adriana Tami, Satoshi Hori, Muhammad Halwani, and Richard Slack
BMJ 2002 324: 1365-1366. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

Easton, P. M., Marwick, C. A., Williams, F. L. R., Stringer, K., McCowan, C., Davey, P., Nathwani, D. (2009). A survey on public knowledge and perceptions of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. J Antimicrob Chemother 63: 209-214 [Abstract] [Full text]
George, A., Tokars, J. I, Clutterbuck, E. J, Bamford, K. B, Pusey, C., Holmes, A. H (2006). Reducing dialysis associated bacteraemia, and recommendations for surveillance in the United Kingdom: prospective study.. BMJ 332: 1435-1435 [Abstract] [Full text]
Morton, A. P (2005). Improving surveillance of MRSA bacteraemia: The tragedy of targets. BMJ 331: 1143-1144 [Full text]