High antibiotic use is associated with high levels of MRSA in European
hospitals
Antibiotic use and infection control measures have a significant impact
on methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus levels in European hospitals,
data from a European Commission funded research project suggest.
The Antibiotic Resistance, Prevention And Control (ARPAC) project involved
almost 300 hospitals from 34 European countries. Prevalence of MRSA was
found to be highest in western, south-eastern and southern Europe, and
prevalence was higher the greater the volume of antibiotics prescribed.
“In addition to the strong association between antibiotic use and
MRSA prevalence, the work also shows that the use of specific classes
of antibiotics,
such as macrolides and third generation cephalosporins is also associated
with higher MRSA prevalence,” said project co-ordinator Fiona MacKenzie,
a microbiologist at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
“Low prevalence of MRSA was strongly linked with infection control
procedures, such as isolation of patients with MRSA in single rooms,
health care
worker use of barrier precautions (for example, gowns and gloves) to
prevent cross contamination and the use of alcohol-based disinfectants
by health care workers,” she added.
ARPAC recommends that clinical pharmacy services should be employed to
support prescribing of antimicrobial agents — the project found
that clinical microbiologists and infectious diseases physicians play
a more active role than pharmacists in advising doctors on antimicrobial
prescribing.
The findings were presented at the Health Protection Agency annual conference
at the University of Warwick last week. The full project recommendations
will be published in the November issue of Clinical Microbiology
and Infection. A summary of
the highest priority ARPAC recommendations is available at the ARPAC website. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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