MRSA Update

Rate of invasive healthcare-associated MRSA infections appears to have declined.
The Los Angeles Times (8/11, Roan) reports, "Dangerous infections caused by the bacterium methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, appear to be declining in healthcare settings across the nation," according to data released by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. "Although it's unclear why healthcare-associated MRSA cases are waning, it's welcome news to hospital administrators and infection-control officials, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services, which has declared preventing such infections one of its major objectives." In fact, "stringent infection-control strategies have been implemented in many hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices in the last decade to reduce infection rates."
What's more, "in 2006, the CDC published a 74-page manual on preventing the spread of drug-resistant organisms in healthcare," and the "document reported early successes from around the world, especially from western Europe, in techniques to limit MRSA spread," the Time (8/10, Blue) "Wellness" blog reported. "It's not unlikely, then, that similar precautions were adopted by US healthcare facilities soon after." The authors of the new paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association also pointed out that "general improvements in central-venous-line infection control can contribute a great deal, since most MRSA infections in US healthcare facilities are blood-stream infections."
Before reaching those conclusions, the researchers "focused on invasive MRSA in hospital patients or those who recently got treatment in a hospital or other healthcare setting, including kidney dialysis patients," the AP (8/11, Tanner) reports. Specifically, data was collected "from centers participating in the CDC's Emerging Infections Program/Active Bacterial Core surveillance system," MedPage Today (8/10, Neale) reported. The "surveillance program collects information from nine US metropolitan areas encompassing about 15 million people."
The researchers eventually discovered that "infections with MRSA that began in hospitals and other healthcare settings have declined 28 percent in recent years," HealthDay (8/10, Behen) reported. "Rates of 'invasive' MRSA infections that had their onset in hospitals or other healthcare facilities declined an average nine percent annually from 2005 through 2008," while "invasive MRSA infections that were associated with healthcare settings but began outside, in the community...declined by about six percent annually, for a total of a 17 percent decrease over the four-year period."
Nevertheless, says lead study author Alex Kallen, "MRSA is still a 'sizable public health threat,' even given the results of" this latest study, Bloomberg News (8/11, Wechsler) reports. Thus, "new guidelines will be issued in late August or September, Kallen said." Along similar lines, Russell Olmsted, president-elect of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, "cautioned against interpreting the study's results as a reason to ease up on prevention," Modern Healthcare (8/10, McKinney) reported. "What we are seeing is that the investment in infection control and engaging providers is paying off and we want to continue to ramp up those efforts," he added. WebMD (8/10, Boyles) and the NPR (8/10, Knox) "Shots" blog also covered the study.