The impact of antibiotic prescription rates on the incidence of MRSA bloodstream infections: a county-level, U.S.-wide analysis

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that approximately 80,641 severe methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections occur every year, leading to 11,285 deaths [1], while the healthcare cost of a single MRSA infection may be as high as $34,657 [2]. In turn, these challenges are largely attributed to an increase in multi-drug resistance among S. aureus strains due, at least in part, to inappropriate antibiotic use [3]. The increase of multi-drug resistant MRSA strains [4-6] has led the CDC to classify MRSA as a “serious” public health threat [1], given that MRSA infections are associated with high mortality [7-9], extended hospital stay [10, 11], and increased hospitalization costs [10-12].

Source: International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents - April 12, 2018 Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Nikolaos Andreatos, Fadi Shehadeh, Elina Eleftheria Pliakos, Eleftherios Mylonakis Source Type: research