A decline in mupirocin resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus accompanied administrative control of prescriptions.
Susceptibility to mupirocin was assessed in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates selected from eras corresponding to differences in usage rate and prescription policies at a Veterans Affairs medical center. The eras studied encompassed from the time of introduction of the drug to its widespread use, through recommended judicious use, and finally to subsequent stringent administrative control. Prescriptions declined from 3.0 to 0.1 per 1,000 patient days. Precipitous declines first in the numbers of isolates with high-level resistance (from 31% to 4%) and then in those with low-level resistance (from 26% to 10%) accompanied prescription control.
Walker
Elaine S
ES
James H. Quillen VAMC (11C), Mountain Home, TN 37684, USA. walkeres@etsu.edu
Levy
Foster
F
Shorman
Mahmoud
M
David
Gerard
G
Abdalla
Jehad
J
Sarubbi
Felix A
FA
D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D016106:Methicillin Resistance; D016712:Mupirocin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013211:Staphylococcus aureus / Q000187:drug effects*
D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C480380:mupA protein, Staphylococcus aureus; D016712:Mupirocin