title: Seasonality of MRSA infections.
abstract: Using MRSA isolates submitted to our hospital microbiology laboratory January 2001-March 2010 and the number of our emergency department (ED) visits, quarterly community-associated (CA) and hospital-associated (HA) MRSA infections were modeled using Poisson regressions. For pediatric patients, approximately 1.85x (95% CI 1.45x-2.36x, adj. p<0.0001) as many CA-MRSA infections per ED visit occurred in the second two quarters as occurred in the first two quarters. For adult patients, 1.14x (95% CI 1.01x-1.29x, adj.p = 0.03) as many infections per ED visit occurred in the second two quarters as in the first two quarters. Approximately 2.94x (95% CI 1.39x-6.21x, adj.p = 0.015) as many HA-MRSA infections per hospital admission occurred in the second two quarters as occurred in the first two quarters for pediatric patients. No seasonal variation was observed among adult HA-MRSA infections per hospital admission. We demonstrated seasonality of MRSA infections and provide a summary table of similar observations in other studies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Infection Control, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, United States of America. lmermel@lifespan.org
authors.forename: Leonard A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Mermel
authors.forename: Jason T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Machan
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Parenteau
mesh_terms: D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D012621:Seasons; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology