Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was discovered in 1960. Over the following 40 years, MRSA was a problem confined largely to the health-care setting. In the late 1990s, the first United States reports of community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections appeared. At present, several reports suggest that CA-MRSA may be replacing the hospital-associated MRSA strains with potentially catastrophic consequences. Presenters discussed the latest research on our understanding of CA-MRSA, why it is spreading across the globe so quickly and what, if anything, can be done about it.
* Henry Chambers, UCSF, San Francisco, CA, United States
* Matteo Bassetti, San Martino Hospital, Genova, Italy
* Michael Otto, NIH, NIAID, Bethesda, MD, United States