Costs and effects of MRSA control in Dutch hospitals

In the Netherlands the prevalence of MRSA among S. aureus bloodstream isolates was as low as 0.7% in 2008. This low prevalence is maintained by a nationwide MRSA policy (also called search and destroy), that has been employed in Dutch hospitals since 1984. In the last years we have witnessed major changes in the Dutch MRSA epidemiology. Since 2003 a new MRSA strain (ST398), which originated from livestock, emerged in the Netherlands. Importantly, there is now a substantial number of MRSA carriers in the Netherlands with persistent (professional) exposure to ST398 MRSA in whom MRSA eradication... Mehr ...