Patients who have had brain or chest surgery are more prone to Staphylococcus aureus infections according to a new study from Duke University published in the July issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
Lead author Deverick Anderson, MD, MPH and his team looked at more than 81,000 patients who underwent nearly 100,000 procedures in 11 hospitals between 2003 and 2006. Along with chest and heat surgeries, they looked at orthopedic procedures and plastic surgery. Of the group, 454 patients had Staphylococcus aureus infections--317 were surgical site infections and 188 were blood infections, with 51 patients having both.
Blood infections were most common after cardiothoracic procedures (.79 per 100 procedures) and surgical site infections were most common after neurosurgery (.62 per 100 procedures). This compared to .37 per 100 orthopedic procedures and .32 per 100 plastic surgeries. The overall rates of infection were .47 per 100 procedures, and although methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the bane of many hospital infection control professionals, it was present in only 227 of the infections--just over half the cases.
Anderson says this means that focusing solely on methods for stopping MRSA will not address all hospital acquired infection issues and that hospitals should diversify their efforts. The higher the risk of the procedure the greater the preventive focus should be, Anderson and his coauthors noted.
For more information:
- here's the study's abstract
- read about the study at DukeHealth.org
- check out this Medical News Today article