Brief report
Community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus skin infection: an emerging clinical problem

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Abstract

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin infections at an outpatient university health center were evaluated. In all, 41 cultures were performed in 36 of 853 patients. Of the 19 patients with S aureus infection, methicillin resistance occurred in 10 (53%) and generally manifested as abscesses or cellulitis. Therefore, methicillin resistance should be considered, even in the community setting, and appropriate cultures performed.

Section snippets

Patients

Patients included students of the undergraduate and graduate schools seeking care through health center services at The University of Houston, Houston, Texas. The charts of students for whom a bacterial culture of the skin was performed between January 7 and August 15, 2002, were reviewed.

Bacterial cultures

An inoculated applicator tip was transferred to a laboratory (Laboratory Corp of America, Houston, Texas) in transport media (Amies, Colpan Diagnostics, Corona, California). Susceptibility testing of the S

Results

A total of 41 bacterial cultures of skin were performed in 36 of the 853 patients seen by the dermatologist. S aureus grew in cultures from 19 of these patients. MRSA grew in 10 of the 19 patients with S aureus (53%). Of these individuals, 5 had risk factors predisposing them to MRSA development (Table I).

MRSA occurred in 8 men and 2 women, ranging in age from 19 to 45 years (median: 23 years). The sites of the 11 episodes of MRSA infection included the lower extremities (thigh, great toe, and

Discussion

CAMRSA infection is becoming more frequent and most commonly presents as skin and soft-tissue infections.3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 In this group of university students who were immunocompetent, skin infection was caused by CAMRSA in more than 50% of the patients with a S aureus–positive culture.

CAMRSA infection occurred more frequently in men (8 of 10 patients). Crusted erosions and plaques were the more common presentations of skin infection for patients with community-acquired

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Funding sources: None.

Conflicts of interest: None identified.

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