Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: from the hospital to the community

A model-based analysis: what potential could there be for a S. aureus vaccine in a hospital setting on top of other preventative measures?

BACKGROUND

Over the past decade, there has been sustained interest and efforts to develop a S. aureus vaccine. There is a need to better evaluate the potential public health impact of S. aureus vaccination, particularly given that preventative measures exist to reduce infection. To our knowledge, there is no previous work to assess the potential of a S. aureus vaccine to yield additional MRSA infection reduction in a hospital setting, on top of other preventative measures that already proved efficient.

METHODS

The main objectives were to propose a versatile simulation framework for assessing potential added benefits of a hypothetical S. Aureus vaccine in conjunction with other preventative measures, and to illustrate possibilities in a given hospital setting. To this end, we employed a recently published dynamic transmission modelling framework that we further adapted and expanded to include a hypothetical S. aureus vaccination component in order to estimate potential benefits of vaccinating patients prior to hospital admission.

RESULTS

Model-based projections indicate that even with other hygiene prevention measures in place, vaccination of patients prior to hospital admission has the potential to provide additional reduction of MRSA infection. Vaccine coverage and vaccine efficacy are key factors that would ultimately impact the magnitude of this reduction. For example, in an average case scenario with 50% decolonization, 50% screening and 50% hygiene compliance level in place, S. aureus vaccination with 25% vaccine coverage, 75% vaccine efficacy against infection, and 0% vaccine efficacy against colonization, may lead to 12% model-projected additional reduction in MRSA infection prevalence due to vaccination, while this reduction could reach 37% for vaccination with 75% vaccine coverage and 75% vaccine efficacy against infection in the same average case scenario.

CONCLUSIONS

S. aureus vaccination could potentially provide additional reduction of MRSA infection in a hospital setting, on top of reductions from hygiene prevention measures. The magnitude of such additional reductions can vary significantly depending on the level of hygiene prevention measures in place, as well as key vaccine factors such as coverage and efficacy. Identifying appropriate combinations of preventative measures may lead to optimal strategies to effectively reduce MRSA infection in hospitals.

Biogeography and virulence of Staphylococcus aureus

Background

Staphylococcus aureus is commonly carried asymptomatically in the human anterior nares and occasionally enters the bloodstream to cause invasive disease. Much of the global diversity of S. aureus remains uncharacterised, and is not clear how disease propensity varies between strains, and between host populations.

Methodology

We compared 147 isolates recovered from five kindergartens in Chengdu, China, with 51 isolates contemporaneously recovered from cases of pediatric infection from the main hospital serving this community. The samples were characterised by MLST, the presence/absence of PVL, and antibiotic resistance profiling.

Principal Findings

Genotype frequencies within individual kindergartens differ, but the sample recovered from cases of disease shows a general enrichment of certain MLST genotypes and PVL positive isolates. Genotypes under-represented in the disease sample tend to correspond to a single sequence cluster, and this cluster is more common in China than in other parts of the world.

Conclusions/Significance

Virulence propensity likely reflects a synergy between variation in the core genome (MLST) and accessory genome (PVL). By combining evidence form biogeography and virulence we demonstrate the existence of a “native” clade in West China which has lowered virulence, possibility due to acquired host immunity.

Staphylococcus aureus methicillin-resistance mechanisms

Background/Aim. In many hospitals in the world and in our country, the spread of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is so wide that nowdays vancomycin is recommended for empiric treatment of staphylococcal life threatening infections (sepsis, pneumonia) instead of beta-lactam antibiotics. The aim of this study was to determine the production of beta-lactamases in hospital and community isolates of staphyloococus aureus, i. e. hospital associated MRSA (HA-MRSA) and community associated MRSA (CA-MRSA), the presence of homogeneous and heterogeneous type of methicillin resistance, and border-line resistance in Staphylococcus aureus (BORSA). The aim of this study was also to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between mechanisms of resistance in HA-MRSA and CA-MRSA. Methods. A total 216 clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates from the General Hospital in the town of Cuprija and 186 ambulance Staphylococcus aureus isolates from the community were examined for the presence of methicillin-resistance using disk-diffusion test with penicillin disk (10 ij), oxacillin disk (1 ?g) and cefoxitin disk (30 ?g). Betalactamases production was detected by nitrocefin disk and betalactamase tablets. Determination of oxacillin minimum inhibitory concentracion (MIC) was done by agar-dilution method. Results. The prevalence of HA-MRSA was 57.4%, and CA-MRSA was 17.7% (p < 0.05). There was a higher rate of heterogeneous type of resistance among clinical MRSA isolates (11.1%) compared with ambulance ones (3.8%) (p < 0.05). The rates of beta-lactamases production were similar among hospital associated isolates (97.5%), as well as in the community associated isolates (95.5%) (p > 0.05). There were 4.6 % of BORSA hospital isolates and 3.3 % of BORSA ambulance isolates (p > 0.05). Conclusion. The frequency of MRSA isolates in hospital was significantly higher than in community, as well as the heterogeneous type of resistance. The frequency of BORSA isolates and production of betalactamases were higher among hospital Staphylococcus aureus isolates, but the difference is not significant.