The national burden of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus decreased between 2005 and 2011, with hospital-onset infections decreasing by 54.2 percent and hospital-associated community-onset infections decreasing 27.7 percent, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
The study examined infections identified with MRSA cultures from nine metropolitan areas in the U.S. between 2005 and 2011, classifying cases as healthcare-associated community-onset infections, hospital-onset infections and community-associated infections and noting decreases in hospital-onset and hospital-associated infections between the beginning and end of the data analysis period.
All told, the 2011 estimate for MRSA infections, nearly 80,500, was approximately 30,800 lower than the estimated number of 2005 MRSA infections.
As community-associated infections decreased only 5 percent, the study concluded interventions for community-associated MRSA will have the greatest impact on preventing national MRSA infection rates. In 2011, community-associated MRSA cases accounted for approximately 21 percent of total MRSA cases for that year.
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