Predictive risk factors for methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) colonisation among adults in acute care settings: A systematic review.

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a gram-positive bacterium commonly carried by approximately three in 10 of the healthy population. If S. aureus enters the body it can cause a range of illnesses, ranging from minor localised skin and wound infections to systemic life-threatening infections such as endocarditis, pneumonia and bacteraemia. The introduction of penicillin in the 1940s to treat S. aureus infection was rapidly followed by the development of resistance to this antibiotic. The introduction of methicillin in 1959 which was stable to the enzyme penicillinase, the cause of earlier resistance, initially appeared to have solved the problem caused by penicillin resistance. However, in 1961 methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) was identified and subsequently epidemic strains have developed. MRSA strains have led to caused major infection outbreaks in several countries during the 1980s and were considered endemic in healthcare facilities from the 1990s.