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The Decline of Methicillin Resistance Among Danish Staphylococcus Aureus Strains

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Vibeke Thamdrup Rosdahl  and
Anna Marie Knudsen
Vibeke Thamdrup Rosdahl*
Affiliation:
Staphylococcus Laboratory, Statens Seruminstitut, Copenhagen, Denmark
Anna Marie Knudsen
Affiliation:
Staphylococcus Laboratory, Statens Seruminstitut, Copenhagen, Denmark
*
Staphylococcus Laboratory, Statens Seruminstitut, Amager Boulevard 80, DK 2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark
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Abstract

Objective:

To describe the occurrence and decline of methicillin-resistant Staphylocococcus aureus in Denmark from 1966 to 1986, and to illustrate why it has been possible to retain a frequency of only 0.2% MRSA since 1984.

Design:

A study of antibiotic susceptibility and phage-type of 522,978 S aureus strains isolated from hospitalized patients in Denmark during the years 1960 to 1988 combined with clinical information on patients with methicillin-resistant strains during the years 1986 through 1988.

Setting:

All strains and information were collected at the centralized, national laboratory for S aureus phage-typing.

Patients:

Hospitalized patients with S aureus isolates, and especially patients with meth-icillin-resistant strains.

Intervention:

Antibiotic treatment.

Results:

The frequency of MRSA rose to 15% in the years 1967 through 1971 but decreased to 0.2% in 1984, and has remained so ever since. The increase was due mainly to the spread of a single or a few clones of the phage-type complex 83A. Occurrence of strains of these phage-types declined from 18% in 1969 to 0.6% in 1989. In 1986 through 1988, at least 48% of the MRSA strains were imported by patients from abroad. Cross-infection occurred only in two cases. High awareness and special precautions were taken when MRSA was detected.

Conclusions:

MRSA of a single or a few clones spread in Danish hospitals in the years 1967 through 1971. Since 1984, only 0.2% of the Danish S aureus population has been MRSA, and imported MRSA strains have been prevented from spreading. (Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 1991;12:83-88.)

Type
Original Articles
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , February 1991 , pp. 83 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1991

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