The number of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are at the highest numbers in Denmark since mandatory reporting began in 2006, according to a Statens Serum Institut (SSI) notice (computer translated).

Image/James Gathany
Image/James Gathany

The report showed there were 3,550 new cases in 2016 – a considerable jump from the 2,973 instances that occurred in 2015.

Officials say the increase last year was primarily due to an increased number of imported and community-acquired cases, including an increase in the number of new MRSA cases among asylum seekers.

There was in 2016 still a very low incidence of hospital-acquired MRSA, which shows that the Danish national MRSA guidelines are functioning.

LISTEN: MRSA, C. diff and other healthcare-associated infections

The number of people who were infected during a hospital visit was at just 43 last year, compared to 40 in 2015.

There was a slight increase in the number of livestock-MRSA CC398 cases from 1,173 in 2015 to 1,249, but the proportion of total MRSA cases was decreasing slightly from 2015, and stagnated since 2014. This is probably due to an increasing proportion of individuals with direct contact with pigs have been studied. Thus, the number of people who are at risk of new infection.

The number of people with livestock-MRSA CC398 with no known contact with pig has increased. There are also several people with infections compared to carriers in this group. As a consequence of the increasing livestock-MRSA CC398 was under the review of MRSA instructions in 2016 established that all hospital patients who are in contact with the pigs, is to remain isolated until such time as a negative test, as well as the contact for mink is now also constitutes a specific risk group.

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