Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – evolution of the strains or iatrogenic effects?

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a Gram-positive bacterium capable of causing various diseases, from skin infections to life-threatening necrotizing pneumonia, bacteraemia, endocarditis and toxic shock syndrome. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is endemic in hospitals worldwide and is a major cause of human morbidity and mortality. Healthcare-associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) infections occur in individuals with a compromised immune system and people with prior surgery. Community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections often occur in healthy individuals and are epidemic in some countries, which may suggest that those strains are more virulent and transmissible than HA-MRSA. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a case of MRSA infection is community acquired when it is diagnosed in an outpatient or within 48 hours of hospitalization if the patient lacks the following traditional risk factors for MRSA infection: receipt of hemodialysis, surgery, residence in a long-term care facility, or hospitalization during the previous year; the presence of an indwelling catheter or a percutaneous device at the time culture samples were obtained. Although progress has been made toward understanding emergence of CA-MRSA, virulence factors and treatment options, our knowledge remains incomplete. The recent occurrence of CA-MRSA in addition to the widespread problem of MRSA in hospitals has underlined the high urgency to find novel treatment options for drug-resistant S. aureus.