Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Finland

• Main Authors: Saara Salmenlinna, Outi Lyytikäinen, Jaana Vuopio-Varkila
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2002-06-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Community-acquired; Finland; MRSA
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/8/6/01-0313_article

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is no longer only hospital acquired. MRSA is defined as community acquired if the MRSA-positive specimen was obtained outside hospital settings or within 2 days of hospital admission, and if it was from a person who had not been hospitalized within 2 years before the date of MRSA isolation. To estimate the proportion of community-acquired MRSA, we analyzed previous hospitalizations for all MRSA-positive persons in Finland from1997 to 1999 by using data from the National Hospital Discharge Register. Of 526 MRSA-positive persons, 21% had community-acquired MRSA. Three MRSA strains identified by phage typing, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, and ribotyping were associated with community acquisition. None of the strains were multiresistant, and all showed an mec hypervariable region hybridization pattern A (HVR type A). None of the epidemic multiresistant hospital strains were prevalent in nonhospitalized persons. Our population-based data suggest that community-acquired MRSA may also arise de novo, through horizontal acquisition of the mecA gene.