MRSA in Sweden: A quarter of cases infected abroad

A quarter of all people with MRSA in Sweden between 2000 and 2003 were infected abroad. A study published today in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases reveals that the number of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in Sweden nearly doubled between 2000 and 2003. The study also shows that 25% of all cases came from abroad. This highlights the threat posed by international transmission of MRSA to countries in which incidence of MRSA infection is still relatively low.

Mikael Stenhem, from the Karolinska Institutet in Solna, Sweden, and colleagues from institutions across Sweden collected data on MRSA infections across the country from 2000 - the year when MRSA infection became a disease that had to be reported and recorded - to 2003. Their results show that the number of people infected with MRSA gradually increased between 2000 and 2003, to go from 325 cases in 2000 to 544 cases in 2003. A total of 1,733 cases were reported during this time period, 433 of which had been infected abroad.

Article:
Epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Sweden 2000-2003, increasing incidence and regional differences

Mikael Stenhem, Ake Ortqvist, Hakan Ringberg, Leif Larsson, Barbro Olsson-Liljequist, Sara Haeggman, Karl Ekdahl, Annica Andersson, Inger A von Rosen, Bodil Ardung, Ingvar Eliasson, Gun Fridh, Goran Hedin, Raija Helisoja, Barbro Isaksson, Kia Karlman, Lena Kransberg, Anne Lennell, Anders Lindblom, Gudrun Lindh, Rolf Lundholm, Ingela Nilsson, Lena Nilsson, Per Nilsson, Peter Nilsson, Ulla-Britt Thollstrom and Per-Erik Abom
BMC Infectious Diseases (in press)

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