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. 2013 Aug 29;8(8):e73096.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0073096. eCollection 2013.

Low incidence of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in The Netherlands in 2009

Brigitte A G L van Cleef  1 , Birgit H B van Benthem, Anja P J Haenen, Thijs Bosch, Jos Monen, Jan A J W Kluytmans
Affiliations

Low incidence of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia in The Netherlands in 2009

Brigitte A G L van Cleef et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a worldwide problem in both hospitals and communities all over the world. In 2003, a new MRSA clade emerged with a reservoir in pigs and veal calves: livestock-associated MRSA (LA-MRSA). We wanted to estimate the incidence of bacteraemias due to LA-MRSA using national surveillance data from 2009 in the Netherlands. We found a low incidence of LA-MRSA and MRSA bacteraemia episodes, compared to bacteraemias caused by all S. aureus (0.04, 0.18 and 19.3 episodes of bacteraemia per 100,000 inhabitants per year, respectively). LA-MRSA and MRSA were uncommon compared to numbers from other countries as well. MRSA in general and LA-MRSA in specific does not appear to be a public health problem in the Netherlands now. The low incidence of LA-MRSA bacteraemia episodes may best be explained by differences in the populations affected by LA-MRSA versus other MRSA. However, reduced virulence of the strain involved, and the effectiveness of the search and destroy policy might play a role as well.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Genetic relatedness of 30 MRSA blood isolates from ISIS-AR from 2008–2010 in the Netherlands.
The figure represents as a minimum spanning tree based on MLVA types (MT). Each MT is displayed as a circle with the spa-type of the isolate next to it in text, the size denotes the number of isolates, and the color represents the MLVA complex (MC), which are indicated in the legend as well. MC398 stands for MLVA complex 398, which represents the livestock-associated strains.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Bacteraemia chances per carrier in the Netherlands in 2009.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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