Community-acquired Saphylococcus aureus infections across Europe

Abstract

Background: Community-acquired, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (CA-MRSA) infections in children are increasing in the USA and in some other parts of the world. Data from Europe is unclear. Objectives: To describe the clinical and microbiological characteristics of children presenting to Pediatric Emergency Departments across Europe with a Staphylococcus aureus infection. Methods: We prospectively enrolled children under 16 years of age with community-acquired S. aureus infections during the month of June 2010 in different European hospitals. Results: During the study period, 155 cases were collected from 16 centres in 10 different countries (Spain, England, Lithuania, Germany, Israel, Romania, Cyprus, Estonia, Italy and Georgia). The prevalence of CA-MRSA was 12 % in this study. The Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes were detected in 30 % (35/117) of the isolates tested. The children had a median age of 31,5 months and 59% were male. Diagnoses included: superficial infections 56%, cellulitis or abscess 31% and deep infections 13%. 12% of the patients had one or more established risk factors for health care-associated infection. 61% of the patients were admitted to the hospital and 44% required drainage. There were no significant differences between CAMRSA and CA-MSSA infections related to hospitalization, need for drainage or type of infection. Conclusions: There is an emergence of CA-MRSA infections across Europe, but less than in the USA. In this study there were no significant clinical differences between CA-MRSA and CAMSSA infections. A significant proportion of infections were caused by PVL-positive isolates.