MRSA USA300 at Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 2000–2006 - Vol. 18 No. 1 - January 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

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MRSA USA300 at Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 2000–2006 - Vol. 18 No. 1 - January 2012 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 18, Number 1—January 2012

Dispatch

MRSA USA300 at Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, 2000–2006

Article Contents

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Acknowledgment
• References
• Figure
• Table 1
• Table 2
• Suggested Citation

Michael Z. David , Karen M. Rudolph, Thomas W. Hennessy, Diana L. Zychowski, Karthik Asthi, Susan Boyle-Vavra, and Robert S. Daum

 

Author affiliations: The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA (M.Z. David, D.L. Zychowski, K. Asthi, S. Boyle-Vavra, R.S. Daum); Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Anchorage, Alaska, USA (K.M. Rudolph, T.W. Hennessy)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

To determine whether methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) USA300 commonly caused infections among Alaska Natives, we examined clinical MRSA isolates from the Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage, during 2000–2006. Among Anchorage-region residents, USA300 was a minor constituent among MRSA isolates in 2000–2003 (11/68, 16%); by 2006, USA300 was the exclusive genotype identified (10/10).

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates, once concentrated among patients who had contact with the health care environment, have become epidemic among otherwise healthy populations in the United States. In the 48 contiguous states, community-associated MRSA skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are predominantly caused by strain USA300 (1). In contrast, in 1996, 2000, and 2004–2006, in rural southwestern Alaska, we found that USA300 was rarely isolated, although community-associated MRSA SSTIs were common. Instead, sequence type (ST) 1, the type of USA400 isolates, was more common (2), as others have found in northern Canada (3). We wondered whether, over time, USA300 might replace USA400 among Alaska Natives as it has elsewhere in North America (4,5).
To investigate this possibility, we conducted surveillance at the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC). ANMC is the primary hospital for Alaska Natives residing in the Anchorage area and the statewide referral hospital for the Alaska Tribal Health System.