MRSA in urology: a UK hospital experience

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection appears to be increasing, the UK has one of the worst MRSA rates in Europe. As urological patients are at high risk, the aim of this study was to determine the number of newly diagnosed cases of MRSA detected in a urology ward.

The urology department serves an annual local population of greater than 500,000 with 30 inpatient beds and a tertiary population of 1 million. Over a five year period, we retrospectively recorded all patients with a new diagnosis of MRSA. We also determined colonization site and if the diagnosis of MRSA was made in an elective surgical patient or a patient admitted as an emergency.

The mean number of newly diagnosed cases of MRSA was 20.6 per year. The percentage of patients with a new diagnosis of MRSA was less than or equal to 1% per year with no significant difference of new cases of MRSA over five years. Emergency patients had a trend towards a mean higher rate of MRSA. The commonest site of MRSA colonization was from catheters (32%) and open wounds (18%).

MRSA is of concern, as compared to methicillin-sensitive staphylococcus aureus, because it is associated with high rates of clinically relevant infection, increased hospital stay and cost, greater mortality and high vancomycin usage. Mandatory reporting has shown a steady increase in the number of cases of MRSA infection over the past four years. We found that the number of newly diagnosed cases of MRSA was low, at less than or equal to 1% of patients per year. Furthermore, the number of new cases of MRSA remained constant over five years suggesting low acquisition rates in a busy UK urology ward.