From the Washington Post article:
The full JAMA article is available online:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/15/1763
Since the majority of infections are occurring in healthcare settings, it does give one even more reason to avoid hospitals and doctor's offices.
So how worried should we be?
In the new study, Fridkin and his colleagues analyzed data collected in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New York, Oregon and Tennessee, identifying 5,287 cases of invasive MRSA infection and 988 deaths in 2005. The researchers calculated that MRSA was striking 31.8 out of every 100,000 Americans, which translates to 94,360 cases and 18,650 deaths nationwide. In comparison, complications from the AIDS virus killed about 12,500 Americans in 2005.
The full JAMA article is available online:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/15/1763
Since the majority of infections are occurring in healthcare settings, it does give one even more reason to avoid hospitals and doctor's offices.
The rate of health care–associated, community-onset infections (17.6 per 100 000; interval estimate, 14.7-18.2) was greater than either health care–associated, hospital-onset infections (8.9 per 100 000; interval estimate, 6.1-11.8) or community-associated infections (4.6 per 100 000; interval estimate, 3.6-4.4). Standardized incidence rates overall were highest among persons 65 years and older (127.7 per 100 000; interval estimate, 92.6-156.9), blacks (66.5 per 100 000; interval estimate, 43.5-63.1), and males (37.5 per 100 000; interval estimate, 26.8-39.5) (Table 4). Rates were lowest among persons aged 5 to 17 years (1.4 per 100 000; interval estimate, 0.8-1.7).
So how worried should we be?