EMRSA-15 Bacteremia is not Associated with a Worse Outcome Compared with Bacteremia Caused by Multidrug-Resistant MRSA

• Published in: International journal of biomedical science 2007-06, Vol.3 (2), p.97-103
• Main Authors: Hsu, Li-Yang, Loomba-Chlebicka, Nidhi, Koh, Tse-Hsien, Kang, Mei-Ling, Tan, Ban-Hock, Tambyah, Paul Ananth
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1550-9702; 1555-2810

EMRSA-15 (ST22-MRSA-IV) is rapidly replacing the endemic ST239 health care-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus clone in Singapore. A one-year single-centre cohort study of inpatients with MRSA bacteremia was performed to determine if bacteremia caused by EMRSA-15 was associated with worse outcomes compared to bacteremia caused by the endemic ST239 strain. Strains were identified by antibiotypes, and subsequent validation was performed on a selected sample of MRSA strains via pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and staphylococcal chromosome cassette mec typing. Two hundred and twenty-eight patients with MRSA bacteremia were studied; Seventy-three were infected with EMRSA-15. EMRSA-15 and ST239-infected patients were similar regarding gender, frequencies of most co-morbidities, and risk factors for adverse outcomes. Similar numbers of EMRSA-15-infected and ST239-infected patients died (24.7% vs 27.1%, P=0.70) or developed complicated infections (41.1% vs 40.0%, P=0.88). After multivariate analysis, EMRSA-15 as a cause of bacteremia was not significantly associated with either death or development of complicated infections, although inappropriate therapy (5.45-fold, P