Researchers cultured the acute skin or soft-tissue infections of 422 patients seen at 11 metropolitan emergency rooms in the United States during August 2004.
Out of those patients, 249, or 59 percent, were found to have MRSA. The proportion of infections caused by MRSA in various cities ranged from 15 to 74 percent.
Further characterization of the MRSA samples, performed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that one genetic type accounted for 97 percent of the samples.
"This one genetic type of MRSA is appearing in metropolitan areas across the country," Moran said. "More research will determine how prevalent it is in other parts of the nation."
Researchers tested the antibiotic resistance of the isolated MRSA samples and found that in 57 percent of cases, doctors had prescribed an antibiotic to which the bacteria were resistant.
"Doctors need to change what they've done for decades, since traditional antibiotics don't work against MRSA," Talan said. "We encourage physicians to reconsider antibiotic choices for skin and soft-tissue infections in areas where MRSA is prevalent in the community."
Talan notes that most MRSA cases are mild, and having the infection drained and keeping it clean resolves the problem. But when antibiotics are needed, it's important to prescribe an effective medication. Sometimes these infections may require hospitalization and, in rare cases, may even be life-threatening.
"It's important for us to identify and properly treat MRSA in order to halt further progression of serious infections and to prevent recurrence," Moran said.
Researchers tested the effectiveness of different types of antibiotics on the MRSA samples and found that 95 percent were susceptible to clindamycin, 6 percent to erythromycin, 60 percent to fluor
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Contact: Amy Waddell Albin
awaddell@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-8672
University of California - Los Angeles
16-Aug-2006