Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections: diverging trends of meticillin-resistant and meticillin-susceptible isolates, EU/EEA, 2005 to 2018

• Published in: Euro surveillance : bulletin européen sur les maladies transmissibles Vol. 26; no. 46; p. 1
• Main Authors: Gagliotti, Carlo, Högberg, Liselotte Diaz, Billström, Hanna, Eckmanns, Tim, Giske, Christian G, Heuer, Ole E, Jarlier, Vincent, Kahlmeter, Gunnar, Lo Fo Wong, Danilo, Monen, Jos, Murchan, Stephen, Simonsen, Gunnar Skov, Šubelj, Maja, Andrašević, Arjana Tambić, Żabicka, Dorota, Žemličková, Helena, Monnet, Dominique L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sweden Centre Europeen pour la Surveillance Epidemiologique du SIDA (European Centre for the Epidemiological Monitoring of AIDS) 18-11-2021; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
• Subjects: Drug resistance; European Union; Humans; Immunology; Life Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Methicillin - pharmacology; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus; Sepsis; Staphylococcal Infections - diagnosis; Staphylococcal Infections - drug therapy; Staphylococcal Infections - epidemiology; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus infections; Studies; Surveillance; Trends; bloodstream infection; bacterial infections; antimicrobial resistance; Europe; Staphylococcus aureus; MRSA
• ISSN: 1560-7917; 1025-496X; 1560-7917; 1025-496X
• DOI: 10.2807/1560-7917.es.2021.26.46.2002094

BackgroundInvasive infections caused by
have high clinical and epidemiological relevance. It is therefore important to monitor the
trends using suitable methods.AimThe study aimed to describe the trends of bloodstream infections (BSI) caused by meticillin-resistant
(MRSA) and meticillin-susceptible
(MSSA) in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).MethodsAnnual data on
BSI from 2005 to 2018 were obtained from the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net). Trends of BSI were assessed at the EU/EEA level by adjusting for blood culture set rate (number of blood culture sets per 1,000 days of hospitalisation) and stratification by patient characteristics.ResultsConsidering a fixed cohort of laboratories consistently reporting data over the entire study period, MRSA percentages among
BSI decreased from 30.2% in 2005 to 16.3% in 2018. Concurrently, the total number of BSI caused by
increased by 57%, MSSA BSI increased by 84% and MRSA BSI decreased by 31%. All these trends were statistically significant (p < 0.001).ConclusionsThe results indicate an increasing health burden of MSSA BSI in the EU/EEA despite a significant decrease in the MRSA percentage. These findings highlight the importance of monitoring antimicrobial resistance trends by assessing not only resistance percentages but also the incidence of infections. Further research is needed on the factors associated with the observed trends and on their attributable risk.