Empiric treatment of serious infections in the hospital is one of today’s most formidable medical challenges.^2,3 Here are some statistics on the ever-growing burden of infectious disease in hospitals and in our society:

• In the United States, hospital-acquired infections alone afflict nearly 2 million patients and kill approximately 90,000 people annually, more than diabetes or influenza/pneumonia.^4,5
• About 70% of these hospital-acquired infections are resistant to at least one drug.⁴
• Nosocomial infections cost U.S. society between $4 billion and $5 billion annually.⁶
• The focus on infections has increased as more and more patients admitted to hospitals now present with antibiotic-resistant bacteria acquired in the community, such as certain strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). MRSA was previously found primarily in hospitals and other health care settings.^7,8
• Studies suggest that there is a substantial increase in mortality, morbidity, and cost for patients with antibiotic-resistant versus susceptible infections.^9,10,11,12
• Multidrug-resistant pathogens are more likely to require longer hospital stays and treatment with second- or third-choice drugs.⁴
• Infections originating from surgery in the United States resulted in a median hospitalization cost of $7,531 for each infected patient during the 1990s.¹³
• Intra-abdominal infections can be difficult to treat, with mortality rates ranging from 3.5% in patients with early infection following a penetrating abdominal trauma to over 60% in patients with well-established infection coupled with secondary organ failure.¹⁴
• Strains of vancomycin-resistant enterococci have become an important cause of illness and sometimes death.¹⁵
• Nearly 60% of hospital-acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections in intensive care units reported to the Centers for Disease Control are MRSA.¹⁶
• MRSA has been recognized as a major nosocomial (hospital-acquired) pathogen that causes approximately 21% of skin infections and 28% of surgical wound infections.¹⁷
• For the patient, the potential impact of MRSA includes increased morbidity and mortality, slower response to therapy and elevated risk of therapeutic failure, extra procedures and treatments (such as surgical wound drainage), longer hospital stays, more missed workdays, delay in return to usual activities, and reduced quality of life.¹⁸
• Within hospitals, MRSA may lead to increased cost of infection control, increased laboratory use for surveillance and screening, use of broader-spectrum empirical therapy, longer hospital stays, and use of costlier therapies.¹⁸
• S. aureus was the most prevalent species isolated from inpatient specimens (18.8%) and the second most prevalent species isolated from outpatient specimens (14.9%)¹⁹

MRSA rates around the country¹⁹

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