BMJ  2006;333 (5 August), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7562.0-b

Spread of MRSA increases in hospitals

Hospital acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections, and mortality after the bacteraemia, have increased with the spread of methicillin resistant S aureus (MRSA). In an anonymised record linkage study Wyllie and colleagues (p 281) used data from more than 216 000 patients to identify 461 inpatients admitted to hospitals in Oxfordshire with S aureus bacteraemia. The rates of methicillin sensitive S aureus infections seem to have remained constant. The overall mortality after S aureus bacteraemia was 30%. The mortality was at least as high after methicillin sensitive infections as after MRSA bacteraemia.

Credit: CDC/SPL

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