If a general or infectious disease-focused medical journal has not had a study on the spread of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in and outside the hospital, one wonders if that journal really exists. The rising prevalence of MRSA has certainly had our attention over the past decade or two, but recently it appears that the prevalence of MRSA in adults is starting to decline. So is the same thing happening in children? Sutter et al. (10.1542/peds.2015-3099) have opted to study staphylococcus susceptibility (S. Aureus) in children receiving care in the US Military Health System in a new study being released this week in Pediatrics. The authors looked at isolates recorded in more than 39,000 patients over 10 years (2005-2014). The results are extremely interesting to think about as they parallel the adult data and show a decline in prevalence compared to methicillin sensitive S. Aureus (MSSA), although there is a decrease in MSSA susceptibility to clindamycin over the study period. So why is this decline in MRSA happening and what should pediatricians do differently if anything as a result of the data shared in this study?
Dr. Sheldon Kaplan, an infectious disease specialist with expertise in the study of S. Aureus shares his thoughts in an accompanying commentary. We encourage you to read both articles and then share what you learn with your staph, oops we mean staff so they also are aware of what we need to be doing to continue to reduce the chances of children developing MRSA in the hospitals and communities we serve.
