Journal article
Rapid detection of antimicrobial-resistant organism carriage: An unmet clinical need
Journal of clinical microbiology, Vol.42(7), pp.2879-2883
2004
DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.7.2879-2883.2004
PMCID: PMC446269
PMID: 15243032
Abstract
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 2 million people in the United States suffer health care-associated (nosocomial) infections each year and that up to 90,000 patients die as a result of their infections (4). In addition, nosocomial infections are becoming increasingly difficult to treat because more than 70% of the bacterial pathogens that cause them are resistant to one or more of the antimicrobials commonly used for treatment (8). Indeed, the rate of antimicrobial resistance among nosocomial pathogens is steadily increasing: present surveillance reveals increasing rates of resistance to oxacillin among Staphylococcus aureus isolates and to vancomycin among Enterococcus spp. (5, 13, 14, 21). Methicillin (oxacillin)-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains are now responsible for more than half of all hospital-acquired S. aureus infections, and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) are responsible for more than one-quarter of all hospital-acquired enterococcal infections (8, 21). Moreover, MRSA and VRE have recently been identified by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) as the two antimicrobial-resistant pathogens that are “most out of control” in U.S. hospitals (29). As infections caused by both pathogens increase in frequency, so too have worries about the potential transfer of vancomycin resistance from VRE to MRSA (30). Thus, the recent isolation of vancomycin-resistant S. aureus strains from patients in Michigan and Pennsylvania lent new urgency to efforts to prevent and control infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant organisms, particularly MRSA and VRE (6, 7).
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Rapid detection of antimicrobial-resistant organism carriage: An unmet clinical need
- Creators
- Daniel J DiekemaKirsty J DodgsonBryndis SigurdardottirMichael A Pfaller
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of clinical microbiology, Vol.42(7), pp.2879-2883
- DOI
- 10.1128/JCM.42.7.2879-2883.2004
- PMID
- 15243032
- PMCID
- PMC446269
- NLM abbreviation
- J Clin Microbiol
- ISSN
- 0095-1137
- eISSN
- 1098-660X
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2004
- Academic Unit
- Infectious Diseases; Epidemiology; Pathology; Internal Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9983986363702771
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