title: Cross border comparison of MRSA bacteraemia between The Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany): a cross-sectional study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We describe the impact of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in two neighbouring regions in Europe with a comparable population size, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in Germany and the Netherlands.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We compared the occurrence of MRSA in blood cultures from surveillance systems. In the Netherlands in 2009, 14 of 1,510 (0.9%) Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia episodes under surveillance were MRSA. Extrapolation using the number of clinical admissions results in a total of 29 MRSA bacteraemia episodes in the Netherlands or 1.8 episodes per 1,000,000 inhabitants. In 2010 in NRW, 1,029 MRSA bacteraemias were reported, resulting in 57.6 episodes of MRSA bacteraemia per 1,000,000 inhabitants: a 32-fold higher incidence than in the Netherlands.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on an estimated attributable mortality of 15%, the Dutch approach would save approximately 150 lives per year by the prevention of bacteraemia only.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Infectious Disease Control Netherlands, RIVM National Institute for Public Health and The Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. Brigitte.van.Cleef@rivm.nl
authors.forename: Brigitte A G L
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: van Cleef
authors.forename: Jan A J W
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Kluytmans
authors.forename: Birgit H B
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: van Benthem
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haenen
authors.forename: Jos
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monen
authors.forename: Inka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Daniels-Haardt
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jurke
authors.forename: Alexander W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Friedrich
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005843:Geography; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology