Increasing Occurrence of Methicillin-ResistantStaphylococcus aureusin the United States

Abstract

Although several outbreaks of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have been reported in recent years, the geographic distribution and frequency of MRSA infections in American hospitals is unknown. We conducted a questionnaire survey to determine the magnitude of the problem. Data from 261 hospitals were included in the survey. MRSA were reported by 145 hospitals located in 36 states. Large hospitals reported these organisms significantly more often than small hospitals (p<.001). University hospitals reported MRSA more often than community or community-teaching hospitals (p<.001 and p<.005, respectively). The number of hospitals reporting MRSA increased from 24 in 1975 to 112 in 1980 (p<.001). Our data suggest that MRSA are widely distributed geographically and that the number of hospitals with these organisms has increased dramatically since 1975.