Hospitalized children who are colonized but not sick with a
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection were found
to have an 8.5% increased risk of developing full-blown infections during their
hospitalizations, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious
Diseases.
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“Hospitalized children colonized with Methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have a very real risk for invasive
infections, both while in the hospital and once they leave, so mitigating this
risk is a serious priority,” Aaron Milstone, MD, MHS, from the department
of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, said.
Of the 3,140 children in the Johns Hopkins Children Center pediatric
intensive care unit that Milstone and colleagues studied, 153 children were
found to be colonized with MRSA when admitted to the hospital between March
2007 and March 2010. Those children admitted with MRSA colonizations were six
times more likely to develop an infection after discharge and eight times more
likely to do so when still hospitalized compared with patients who were not
colonized with MRSA, researchers noted in the release.
Based on the study abstract, 56 patients developed a MRSA infection; 43
of the children who were not colonized on admission and 13 of the children who
were already colonized with MRSA subsequently developed MRSA infections while
at the hospital.
Milstone and colleagues noted in the abstract that African Americans
and patients without public health insurance showed a tendency toward
developing a subsequent infection. These data highlight the need for
standardized protocols for screening patients for MRSA upon admission to the
hospital and during their stays, Milstone stated in the release.
For more information:
Milstone AM, Goldner BW, Ross T, et al. Methicillin-resistant
staphylococcus aureus colonization and risk of subsequent infection in
critically ill children: Importance of preventing nosocomial
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus transmission.
Clin Infect Dis. 2011;59:853-859.
