title: Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in hospitalized adults and children without known risk factors.
abstract: Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are not commonly recognized in healthy patients without predisposing risk. We performed a retrospective study of patients hospitalized with community-acquired MRSA infections from 1992 to 1996 in Honolulu to determine if community-acquired MRSA infections occurred in patients without known risk. Patients hospitalized within the previous 6 months or transferred from other hospitals or nursing homes were excluded. Epidemiological and clinical data were obtained from an inpatient chart review. Ten (71%) of 14 patients with community-acquired MRSA infection had no discernible characteristics of MRSA infections. Thirteen (93%) patients had skin or soft-tissue infections and one patient had MRSA pneumonia. Isolates from patients with MRSA infection were more likely to be susceptible to ciprofloxacin (P = .05), clindamycin (P = .03), and erythromycin (P = .01) than were those from MRSA-colonized patients. In our population, the majority of community-acquired MRSA infections occurred in previously healthy individuals without characteristics suggestive of MRSA transmission.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. edward.gorak@amedd.army.mil
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Gorak
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*