Risk factors associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in patients admitted to the ED

Viallon, Alain; Marjollet, Olivier; Berthelot, Philippe; Carricajo, Anne; Guyomarc'h, Stéphane; Robert, Florianne; Zeni, Fabrice; Bertrand, Jean Claude

doi:10.1016/j.ajem.2007.01.013

« Previous Next »American Journal of Emergency Medicine
Volume 25, Issue 8 , Pages 880-886, October 2007

Risk factors associated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection in patients admitted to the ED

Alain Viallon, MD
- Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
- Corresponding author. Service d'urgence et de réanimation, Hôpital de Bellevue, 42055 Saint-Etienne cedex 2, France. Tel.: +33 334 77 12 05 87; fax: +33 334 77 12 05 24.
Olivier Marjollet, MD
- Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
Philippe Berthelot, MD
- Department of Infectious Disease, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
Anne Carricajo, MD
- Microbiology Laboratory, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
Stéphane Guyomarc'h, MD
- Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
Florianne Robert, MD
- Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
Fabrice Zeni, MD
- Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France
Jean Claude Bertrand, MD
- Emergency and Intensive Care Department, Hôpital de Bellevue, Saint-Etienne, France

Received 24 April 2006; received in revised form 9 January 2007; accepted 11 January 2007.

Abstract

Objectives

The objective of our study was to define the characteristics of patients admitted to the emergency department (ED) presenting with a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection.

Patients and Methods

The study included all patients admitted to the ED between January 2003 and December 2004 in whom a staphylococcal infection was documented. The risk factors associated with carriage of MRSA, the diagnosis made in the ED, and the treatment administered were established from the patients' medical files. The sites from which the bacteria were isolated, the spectrum of resistance of the staphylococci to different antibiotics, and the presence or absence of the gene coding for Panton-Valentin leukocidin for certain S aureus isolates were determined from the reports issued by the bacteriologic department. Two groups of patients were compared: those with an infection caused by MRSA and those with an infection due to methicillin-susceptible S aureus (MSSA).

Results

A total of 238 patients were included, 93 presenting with an infection caused by MRSA and 145 an infection due to MSSA. The patients harboring MRSA had a higher median age than those carrying MSSA (74 vs 61 years, P = .0001), experienced a greater loss of autonomy (according to the Knauss index), and had more comorbidity factors. Nine patients, younger than 40 years, presented with an infection due to MRSA in the absence of any comorbidity factor or any factor associated with carriage of these bacteria. Seven patients in the MRSA group were tested for Panton-Valentine leukocidin genes, and a positive result was obtained in 2 of them. Regardless of whether the infection was caused by MRSA or by MSSA, the bacteria were most frequently isolated from a cutaneous site, in 40% and 65% of the patients, respectively. Irrespective of the group, 28% of the patients presented with bacteremia. The spectrum of resistance of these MRSA strains suggested a hospital rather than community origin. The initial antibiotic therapy was rarely appropriate in the case of an infection due to MRSA.

Conclusion

Infections caused by MRSA accounted for a high proportion of the staphylococcal infections diagnosed in the ED, necessitating a rational approach to the prescription of antibiotics for infections of this type.