title: Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus nasal abscesses in a lower socioeconomic urban population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To determine the prevalence of community-acquired methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) and methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) nasal abscesses in a lower socioeconomic status urban population over a 5-year period.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective chart review of 29 consecutive patients with nasal abscess cultures performed in the otolaryngology clinic from 2007 to 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-nine cases of nasal abscesses were identified. All cultures grew S. aureus; 34.5% were MSSA and 65.5% were CA-MRSA. Comparing CA-MRSA and MSSA, there was no statistically significant increase in prevalence of CA-MRSA over 5 years; and there was no statistical difference comparing gender, year, or age. There was a high rate of erythromycin resistance (15/19) and a low rate of sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (2/19) and clindamycin (1/19) resistance in the CA-MRSA cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this population, the proportion of CA-MRSA nasal abscesses is nearly twice that of MSSA nasal abscesses. The overall prevalence of CA-MRSA appears to be stable over the past 5 years. This may represent a stabilization of CA-MRSA colonization in this community. An awareness of the high proportion of CA-MRSA will allow for the appropriate selection of antibiotic therapy.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Andrea S
authors: AS
authors: Wang
authors: Rita M
authors: RM
authors: Roure
authors: Aaron N
authors: AN
authors: Pearlman
mesh_terms: D000038:Abscess / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055624:Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009668:Nose Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012923:Social Class; D013203:Staphylococcal Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014504:Urban Health; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Staphylococcus aureus; bacterial infection; methicillin resistance; nasal abscess; staphylococcal infection