Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a common cause of both community and hospital acquired infections. According to CDC, MRSA is responsible for 70,000 severe infections and 9,000 deaths per year. The MRSA nasal PCR (MRSA PCR) is a screening test for MRSA colonization in the nares. It has a sensitivity of about 67.4% and [...]

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization of hospitalized patients is associated with higher readmission rates and increased morbidity. Depending on the mechanisms of transmission, numerous potential control interventions exist to reduce the burden of disease. These interventions include decolonization, improving hand-washing adherence, and enhanced environment cleaning. To evaluate the impact of various types of control, [...]

Background: The hands of hospitalists are often the source for transmitting multidrug resistant organisms (MDROs), and as such are the target of numerous hand hygiene interventions. Despite this focus, the prevalence of various MDROs on healthcare personnel (HCP) hands during routine patient care has not been well established. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to: [...]

Background: Septic patients that require ICU level of care are treated empirically with vancomycin. Although this treatment is effective for MRSA infections, prolonged vancomycin exposure can cause nephrotoxicity and antibiotic resistance. A test to identify patients with a low risk for MRSA infection could facilitate early vancomycin discontinuation. In patients presenting with pneumonia, MRSA swabs [...]

Background: Guidelines by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the Infectious Disease Society of America recommend empiric antibiotics active against Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for certain patient groups but do not base their recommendations on systematic review or attempt to quantify the benefit on mortality. Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using Embase, [...]

Case Presentation: 43 year old HIV positive, type I diabetic female (on lopinavir-ritonavir, efavirenz; last CD4 count 942; negative viral load), presented to Emergency Department (ED) with lower back pain radiating bilaterally to buttocks for one week. Physical examination revealed paraspinal tenderness, intact rectal tone and saddle sensation, no motor weakness. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) [...]

Case Presentation: A 41-year-old female with a history of hypertension, depression, and alcohol abuse presented to the emergency department with right facial swelling and pain after biting her cheek the previous night. The patient first noticed a small, unconcerning “red bump” on her cheek that was minimally painful earlier that morning. She was admitted to [...]

Case Presentation: A 65-year-old man presented to outside hospital post-fall with weakness, back pain and fever. He had sinus tachycardia, leukocytosis, and a meth-positive urine drug screen (UDS). Chest x-ray and CT abdomen/pelvis were unremarkable. Blood and urine cultures grew MRSA. Empiric antibiotics and infectious disease (ID) consult ordered. Transthoracic (TTE) and transesophageal (TEE) echocardiogram [...]

Case Presentation: A 44-year-old female with a past medical history of uncontrolled type 2 diabetes mellitus (hemoglobin A1c 16.5%), hypertension, and obesity presented to the emergency room (ER) for left sided facial swelling after a mosquito bite. Physical exam revealed swelling, erythema, and tenderness and she was diagnosed with facial cellulitis, for which she was [...]

Case Presentation: 59 yo Caucasian male presented from an outside hospital (OSH) with primary complaint of “leg abscesses” of 1 wk duration. Patient was afebrile, vital signs stable and in no acute distress complaining of painful “leg abscesses.” PMHx significant for recurrent scrotal cellulitis for the past few years, but was improving when the leg [...]