Superbug MRSA in U.S. declining

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SAN ANTONIO, July 7 (UPI) -- Both community-onset and hospital-onset methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia decreased from 2005 to 2010, U.S. researchers say.

Dr. Michael L. Landrum of the San Antonio Military Medical Center, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and colleagues examined the incidence rates of community-onset and hospital-onset S aureus bacteremia involving Department of Defense TRICARE beneficiaries from January 2005 through December 2010.

Medical record data were used to identify and classify all methicillin-susceptible S aureus or MRSA, or community-onset or hospital-onset infections three days after hospital admission.

From 2005 through 2010, there were more than 9.2 million people eligible to receive care within the Department of Defense healthcare system each year.

The researchers found that the annual incidence rates for community-onset and hospital-onset MRSA bacteremia decreased from 2005 to 2010.

"Concurrently, the proportion of community-onset Skin and Soft Tissue Infection due to MRSA peaked at 62 percent in 2006 before decreasing annually to 52 percent in 2010," the study authors said in the study.

The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, also found the rate of community-onset MRSA bacteremia was highest for those 65 years or older, while the rates of community-onset bacteremia were higher in men than in women.