MRSA

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), also known as oxacillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (ORSA), multiple-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, CA-MRSA (community-acquired MRSA) and HA-MRSA (hospital-acquired MRSA), is a biological agent responsible for difficult-to-treat infections in humans. (MSSA is Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus.)

MRSA infection risk after facelift surgery

Methicillin-resistant S aureus?positive surgical site infection is an increasingly problematic issue in all surgical fields. In the future, MRSA-positive infections will be more prevalent and will require well-developed screening, prevention, and treatment strategies. – About one-half percent of patients undergoing facelift surgery at one outpatient surgical center between 2001 and 2007 developed methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, according to a report in the March/April issue of Archives of Facial Plastic Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

MRSA admission screening may not reduce staph infection rates

A universal, rapid MRSA admission screening strategy did not reduce nosocomial MRSA infection in a surgical department with endemic MRSA prevalence but relatively low rates of MRSA infection. – New findings do not support the recommendation for universal screening on hospital admission for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to reduce the rate of hospital-acquired infections in surgical patients, according to a study in the March 12 issue of JAMA.

72% rise in clostridium difficile linked deaths

This is the fourth annual report on deaths in England and Wales involving MRSA and the third annual report on deaths involving Clostridium difficile. Data for 2006 are published for the first time. – The number of deaths involving Clostridium difficile continued to rise between 2005 and 2006, while deaths involving MRSA levelled out, according to new figures published by the Office for National Statistics in Health Statistics Quarterly 37 spring 2008.

MRSA among drug users increasing

Rates of MRSA infection in injection drug users in Vancouver have significantly increased over the last six years. – A new comparative study suggests that rates of MRSA infection in injection drug users in Vancouver have significantly increased over the last six years highlighting the need for interventional methods in high-risks groups.

Studies highlight MRSA evolution and resilience

A single strain of an evolving bacterium has been responsible for most of the community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections. – Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are caused primarily by a single strain-USA300-of an evolving bacterium that has spread with “extraordinary transmissibility” throughout the United States during the past five years, according to a new study led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists. CA-MRSA, an emerging public health concern, typically causes readily treatable soft-tissue infections such as boils, but also can lead to life-threatening conditions that are difficult to treat.

Gay men vulnerable to infectious MRSA superbug bacteria

A new report in the Annals of Internal Medicine is reporting that a super resistant bacteria MRSA superbug is spreading in gay communities. – Sexually active gay men are many times more likely than others to acquire a new, highly antibiotic-resistant strain of the so-called MRSA bacteria widely know as the “superbug,” a UCSF-led study shows.

Quick Test For Drug-Resistant Staph Infections MRSA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus). – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced it has cleared for marketing the first rapid blood test for the drug-resistant staph bacterium known as MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which can cause potentially deadly infections.