Community acquired MRSA

Main Category: MRSA / Drug Resistance
Article Date: 05 Mar 2005 - 1:00 PDT

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There has been recent media interest in community acquired MRSA (C-MRSA) but the (UK) Health Protection Agency are unaware of any link to gyms or healthclubs. Over the past three years, the Agency has identified approximately 100 cases of C-MRSA in the UK, and one patient has unfortunately died. These cases have been acquired within the community.

Community acquired MRSA (C-MRSA) are defined as MRSA occurring in a healthy person who we would not normally expect to acquire MRSA ; for example, a person who hasn't been recently hospitalised, or undergone surgical procedures or prolonged antibiotic treatment. The bacteria can cause skin and soft tissue infections, such as abscesses or cellulitis, and more rarely pneumonias and bloodstream infections. In many ways, C-MRSA are different from current hospital MRSA. C-MRSA are also more sensitive to antibiotic treatment, which means that there is a wider choice of antibiotic treatment options for C-MRSA compared with hospital-acquired MRSA.

So far, most of the UK cases identified have been seen in injecting drug users. Several other countries have encountered more serious problems with C-MRSA. Risk factors in these countries have included gay massage parlours and close-contact sports such as rugby or wrestling. In these situations, skin abrasions are common, so leaving the person more prone to contracting C-MRSA. Other risk groups in the US have included individuals who have stayed in jails and there have been infections described in children. In some countries these strains have also been seen in hospitals.

Simple preventative measures, such as good hand hygiene, applying antiseptics and covering cuts and abrasions with plasters, are the most effective ways of preventing the spread of any organism causing skin infections. However, it's important to note that the Agency has only seen a small number of C-MRSA cases over the past three years, and that the risk of contracting this type of MRSA in the community remains extremely small.

MRSA is a form of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, which is resistant to methicillin, an antibiotic commonly used in its treatment. Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium that lives completely harmlessly on the skin and in the nose of about one third of normal healthy people but which can cause infections when it gets the opportunity to enter the body, for example through wounds in the skin.

Notes to Editors

1 For further information, please contact the Health Protection Agency press office on 020 8327 7097/6647/7098

2 The strains of C-MRSA reported here are different to those sometimes seen in nursing homes; cases in nursing homes are usually as a result of a person returning from hospital with hospital-acquired MRSA.

Health Protection Agency Press Release (UK)

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