DISEASE NAME:
S. aureus/MRSA
CATEGORY:
Microbiology/Antimicrobial Resistance
S. aureus/MRSA
MRSA stands for meticillin, resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Staphylococcus aureus is a common germ that lives completely harmlessly on the skin or in the nose of about one in three people.
MRSA is a type of Staph aureus that has become resistant to a number of different antibiotics. Most people who carry MRSA on their bodies or in their noses don’t suffer any ill effects. Carrying the germ harmlessly like this is called “colonisation”. However MRSA sometimes causes infections if it enters the body. This is more likely to happen to people who are already unwell, particularly those who are in hospital with a serious illness.
Most MRSA infections are called “local” infections, such as boils, abscesses or infected wounds. These are easily treated. In a small number of people, however, MRSA can cause serious infections such as septicaemia (also known as “bloodstream infection” or “blood poisoning”).
Guidance
Prevention and Control Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) National Clinical Guideline No. 2 December 2013
File Size: (921kB)
Publication Date: December 2013
Prevention and Control Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) National Clinical Guideline Summary December 2013
Case definition
Clinical criteria
Not relevant for surveillance purposes
Laboratory criteria for diagnosis
Isolation of S. aureus from blood culture. The isolate should be identified as S. aureus by producing a positive coagulase test, preferably tube coagulase. Methicillin susceptibility should be determined using one or more of the following methods (or as recommended in the current edition of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) Microbiological Manual):
- Cefoxitin screen test
- Detection of altered penicillin binding protein (PBP2a)
- Detection of the gene encoding methicillin resistance (mecA)
Epidemiological criteria
NA
Case classification
A. Possible case
NA
B. Probable case
NA
C. Confirmed case
Any person meeting the laboratory criteria
Current as of: 28 May 2018
Information, Data and Reports for S. aureus/MRSA
Ireland’s specialist service for the surveillance of communicable diseases.