2008 Woodie Awards
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City's staph infection rate highest in the nation
Drug-resistant strain can potentially kill if untreated
Issue date: 11/1/07
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A drug-resistant form of staph infection has been found in Baltimore at an excessively high rate, according to a new report produced in part by Hopkins researchers.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) manifests itself as a severe respiratory infection. Unlike average staph infections, MRSA is resistant to treatment with antibiotics such as penicillin.
"I'm concerned that the rates of invasive MRSA are so high, particularly in Baltimore City," said Lee Harrison, principal investigator for the Maryland Active Bacterial Core Surveillance (ABCs) located at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Harrison was one of the Hopkins researchers who contributed data to the report published on Oct. 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Though previously found only in hospitals, MRSA has begun to spread into the community at an alarming rate.
There have been at least six students with MRSA infections at Hopkins since last spring, according to Director of the Student Health and Wellness Center Alain Joffe.
"We are fortunate that the students we are seeing today have relatively minor infections," Joffe said.
Surveillance found that the rate of MRSA infection in Baltimore was 116.7 per 100,000 in 2005. This figure is more than three times the study's average of 31.8 infected per 100,000. In the same year, the standardized mortality rate from the infection was 6.3 per 100,000.
But Harrison said that these figures do not represent the actual effect that MRSA infections are having.
"Only about seven percent of MRSA infections are invasive, so the overall burden of MRSA infections is over tenfold higher than reported," Harrison said.
Joffe said that the recovery rate for the students the Center has diagnosed with MRSA infections has been nearly 100 percent, with one student requiring hospital care to receive intravenous antibiotics.
The Maryland ABCs site conducts active, laboratory based surveillance for a variety of bacterial pathogens, including MRSA. This surveillance was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) manifests itself as a severe respiratory infection. Unlike average staph infections, MRSA is resistant to treatment with antibiotics such as penicillin.
"I'm concerned that the rates of invasive MRSA are so high, particularly in Baltimore City," said Lee Harrison, principal investigator for the Maryland Active Bacterial Core Surveillance (ABCs) located at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Harrison was one of the Hopkins researchers who contributed data to the report published on Oct. 17 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Though previously found only in hospitals, MRSA has begun to spread into the community at an alarming rate.
There have been at least six students with MRSA infections at Hopkins since last spring, according to Director of the Student Health and Wellness Center Alain Joffe.
"We are fortunate that the students we are seeing today have relatively minor infections," Joffe said.
Surveillance found that the rate of MRSA infection in Baltimore was 116.7 per 100,000 in 2005. This figure is more than three times the study's average of 31.8 infected per 100,000. In the same year, the standardized mortality rate from the infection was 6.3 per 100,000.
But Harrison said that these figures do not represent the actual effect that MRSA infections are having.
"Only about seven percent of MRSA infections are invasive, so the overall burden of MRSA infections is over tenfold higher than reported," Harrison said.
Joffe said that the recovery rate for the students the Center has diagnosed with MRSA infections has been nearly 100 percent, with one student requiring hospital care to receive intravenous antibiotics.
The Maryland ABCs site conducts active, laboratory based surveillance for a variety of bacterial pathogens, including MRSA. This surveillance was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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