Methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus: an ever emerging threat

Abstract

Among multidrug-resistant bacteria, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is of immediate concern, given its potential for pathogenicity and widespread presence in healthcare settings. Over the last four decades, MRSA has spread throughout the world and the global prevalence of MRSA in hospitals (hospital-associated MRSA) continues to increase with the dissemination of a limited number of MRSA clones, each with a specific genetic background and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec. Measures to control the hospital spread of MRSA have concentrated principally on transmission-based control policies. European surveillance data suggest that the increasing rate of hospital-associated MRSA is not an inexorable trend, and European countries with variable baseline prevalence and infection control policies were able to reverse the MRSA trend. Recently, MRSA strains have emerged and rapidly spread in the community. These so-called community-associated (CA)-MRSA strains are mainly associated with skin...