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actual number of deaths due to the population density of the monitored areas, but the information suggests that the MRSA-associated death rate doubled in only 5 years.

And Then There Were Two

At a New York Academy of Science meeting on emerging and re-emerging microbial diseases in late 2004, Dr. Barry Kreiswirth from the Public Health Research Institute presented information about MRSA infections. Of particular concern were the first cases of vancomycin-resistant MRSA (VR-MRSA) seen by researchers in 2002. This is a form of MRSA that is also resistant to another antibiotic, vancomycin, once again reducing treatment options and increasing the survival of the bacteria versus the survival of its human host.

The elderly and those who stay in the hospital often are at a higher risk of suffering from antibiotic resistant infections, because the more virulent strains often circulate in the healthcare system. Based on information from the CDC, approximately 65% of hospital-based S. aureus infections were methicillin resistant in 2003, and 8.2% of nosocomial bacterial infections can be expected to be MRSA. Three-fourths of all nosocomial infections are estimated to be drug resistant, and hospital-acquired infections result in 100,000 deaths annually. A return to basic hygiene consciousness, more diligent hand-washing and sterilization, may be able to cut the numbers.

Additional sources:

Furuno, et al. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin-resistant enterococci Co-colonization. Emerging Infectious Diseases 11(10);1539-1544, 2005.

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Learn more about this author, Alicia M Prater PhD.
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