MIAMI — In a prospective, 6-month study of 210 consecutive trauma patients, 15% had at least one nasal swab that was positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Grant V. Bochicchio, M.D., wrote in a poster presented at the joint annual meeting of the Surgical Infection Society and the Surgical Infection Society-Europe.
Of the 210 patients, 17 (8%) had a positive MRSA swab on admission, and 14 (7%) had a positive MRSA swab subsequently, said Dr. Bochicchio, a surgeon with the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore. Of the 17 patients with positive MRSA swabs on admission, 5 (29%) were diagnosed and treated for their infections. Of the 14 patients who had a positive MRSA swab later, 10 (71%) were diagnosed with MRSA infections; these 10 had been exposed to MRSA-positive patients.
Overall, patients who were MRSA positive on admission were significantly more likely to have a history of renal failure, diabetes, and drug abuse; patients who acquired MRSA infections later were significantly more likely to be obese and to have a history of renal or liver disease than were non-MRSA patients. A total of 42% of the patients who had positive MRSA swabs at any point during the study were treated with antibiotics within 6 months of their current hospital admission.
Also, hospital stays for MRSA-diagnosed patients and those who had MRSA-positive nasal swabs were significantly longer (25 days and 19.5 days, respectively) than for non-MRSA patients (14 days).