Source: Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, February 20, 2009

Prevention efforts have led to declines of up to 70 percent, CDC researchers say.

Blood infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have dropped significantly in hospital intensive care units, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.

MRSA, a type of staph bacteria that’s resistant to certain antibiotics, can cause severe infections in people in hospitals and other health-care facilities. It can also cause serious skin infections in healthy people who haven’t recently been hospitalized.

The tough-to-treat blood infections have caused the most concern, but the new CDC numbers suggest that hospital prevention efforts may be turning the tide against MRSA.
Related:
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections in US Intensive Care Units, 1997-2007
Source: Deron C. Burton, Jonathan R. Edwards, Teresa C. Horan, John A. Jernigan, Scott K. Fridkin, Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 301, no. 7, February 18, 2009
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