Dramatic 10-fold surge seen in kids hospitalized with MRSA; docs shift antibiotics to fight it

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Dramatic surge seen in kids hospitalized with MRSA

CHICAGO — There’s been a dramatic surge in the number of children hospitalized with dangerous drug-resistant staph infections.

A study out Monday in the journal Pediatrics found disease incidence increased from two cases to 21 cases per 1,000 hospital admissions from 1999 to 2008. That’s a 10-fold increase.

Most infections were caught in the community, not in the hospital.

The study involved methicillin-resistant staph infections, called MRSA (MUHR’-suh). These used to occur mostly in hospitals and nursing homes. But they are increasingly showing up in other settings in children and adults. Recent evidence suggests hospital-acquired MRSA cases may be declining while community-acquired cases are becoming more common.