PLoS ONE (Jan 2012)

Cross border comparison of MRSA bacteraemia between The Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany): a cross-sectional study.

  • Brigitte A G L van Cleef,
  • Jan A J W Kluytmans,
  • Birgit H B van Benthem,
  • Anja Haenen,
  • Jos Monen,
  • Inka Daniels-Haardt,
  • Annette Jurke,
  • Alexander W Friedrich

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042787
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7, no. 8
p. e42787

Abstract

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BACKGROUND: We describe the impact of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in two neighbouring regions in Europe with a comparable population size, North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) in Germany and the Netherlands. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We compared the occurrence of MRSA in blood cultures from surveillance systems. In the Netherlands in 2009, 14 of 1,510 (0.9%) Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia episodes under surveillance were MRSA. Extrapolation using the number of clinical admissions results in a total of 29 MRSA bacteraemia episodes in the Netherlands or 1.8 episodes per 1,000,000 inhabitants. In 2010 in NRW, 1,029 MRSA bacteraemias were reported, resulting in 57.6 episodes of MRSA bacteraemia per 1,000,000 inhabitants: a 32-fold higher incidence than in the Netherlands. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Based on an estimated attributable mortality of 15%, the Dutch approach would save approximately 150 lives per year by the prevention of bacteraemia only.