Thursday, March 23, 2006
9908

Increased prevalence of community-acquired MRSA in hand infections at an urban medical center

Ravi Kiran, MD, Beth McCampbell, MD, Adam Angeles, Richard Montilla, Carlos Medina, Avir Mitra, John Gaughn, Julia Spears, and Amit Mitra.

Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to report the increased incidence of CA-MRSA in hand infections at an urban medical center. Materials and methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients with hand infections over a 21month period. Demographic data was collected along with risk factors for nosocomial MRSA. Based on chart review, cases determined to be nosocomial were separated from CA-MRSA cases. The study period was divided into three 7-month periods to evaluate the incidence of CA-MRSA. Results: A total of 343 hand infections were treated. 89 patients with culture positive MRSA were identified. 14 patients were determined to be hospital-acquired MRSA patients based on chart review. The remaining 75 patients were determined as CA-MRSA patients. The incidence of MRSA were significantly different during the 3 time periods . During the last 7-month period, a significant increase in CA-MRSA in hand infections was identified. Conclusions: We have found a significant increase in CA-MRSA in hand infections at our center over the last 7 months. We feel this trend may be occurring throughout the US, specifically at urban centers.