Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci

(VRE) Bloodstream Infections (BSI) in California Hospitals, 2011

This report by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) Bloodstream Infections (BSIs) is the first in the United States using data submitted by California hospitals to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). The data were reported from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011, through NHSN laboratory-based identification of cases. We sorted hospitals into categories that reflect their patients’ severity of illness and other factors that can affect their risk of infection, such as age and length of hospitalization, and the type of care that they receive. These categories are: community, major teaching (excluding pediatric), long-term acute care (LTAC), pediatric, critical access, rehabilitation, and prison hospitals. Separation of hospitals into such categories allows comparisons according to type of hospitals and, with caution, between hospitals within these categories.

There are no other reports of MRSA or VRE BSI incidence rates from NHSN data for comparison with this report, so it is not possible to compare these rates from California hospitals with national or other state data. Hospitals are compared within each category to the average rate for all hospitals in that category. Hospitals with significantly higher or lower rates, or those not different than the average for that category are indicated with an H, L, or N. Hospitals could have higher or lower rates of BSIs for a number of reasons, including differences in the severity of illness in their patient populations or in their infection prevention efforts. These data serve as a basis to evaluate BSI rates in California hospitals over time. Definitions, including methods associated with this release are summarized in Technical Notes (see link below).

To view key findings and public health actions for this data release, see key findings

What’s in key findings? This document summarizes the key findings from this data release including introduction, important results, and key public health actions and messages.

The data in this report is presented in the following tables. BSI rates are provided for all hospitals that reported 12 months of data for the reporting period.

MRSA	VRE
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI by hospital type	Incidence rates of VRE BSI by hospital type
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by community hospitals	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by community acute care hospitals
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by major teaching hospital	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by major teaching hospitals
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by pediatric acute care hospitals	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by pediatric acute care hospitals
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by long-term acute care hospitals	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by long-term acute care hospitals
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by rehabilitation hospitals	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by rehabilitation hospitals
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by critical access hospitals	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by critical access hospitals
Incidence rates of MRSA BSI reported by prison hospitals	Incidence rates of VRE BSI reported by prison hospitals

Months reported and cases of MRSA and VRE BSIs reported by hospitals reporting less than twelve months of data

To view the Technicqal Notes for the 2011 data release, see Technical Notes

What is in the technical notes? The Technical Notes contain information on the data sources, definitions, quality assurance and control, data presentation and statistical analyses associated with this data release.