Colonized children are more likely to have a subsequent infection during their hospitalization
THURSDAY, Sept. 8 (HealthDay News) -- Children with colonizations of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on admission to hospital have an increased risk of subsequent MRSA infection, according to a study published online Aug. 29 in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Aaron M. Milstone, M.D., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues measured the risk of developing a subsequent MRSA infection in 3,140 children with MRSA colonization who were admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit between 2007 and 2010. Swab samples from the anterior naris were cultured to identify children with MRSA colonizations upon admission. Patients acquiring MRSA infections during or after hospitalization were identified by assessments of laboratory databases and applying definitions from the National Healthcare Safety Network.
The investigators found that the MRSA admission prevalence was 4.9 percent. A total of 56 children (1.8 percent) developed an MRSA infection, including 13 and 43 children who were colonized and not colonized on admission, respectively (8.5 and 1.4 percent, respectively; relative risk [RR], 5.9). MRSA infection developed during hospitalization in 10 (0.3 percent) of these children, including three of the 153 children colonized on admission, and seven of the 2,987 children not colonized on admission (1.9 and 0.2 percent, respectively; RR, 8.4). Subsequent infections were more likely in African-Americans, and those with public health insurance. A total of 15 children acquired MRSA colonization in the pediatric intensive care unit, and seven developed a subsequent MRSA infection.
"MRSA colonization is a risk factor for subsequent MRSA infection in children," the authors write.
Several of the study authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.
Abstract
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