Prevalence of S. Aureus Among Patients Presenting With Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: a Multi-centre Pilot Study in Europe

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is reported as one of the main causative pathogen of community acquired SSTIs. In the USA, high prevalence of MRSA among Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) is known to be due to the spread of the USA300 clone [Moran et al. 2006]. Among S. aureus SSTIs infections in Europe, data regarding the prevalence of MRSA in SSTIs and the causative genotypes remain scarce. The paucity of literature on the prevalence of MSSA, MRSA and PVL-producing S. aureus strains in SSTI in Europe is probably due to the fact that culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing is not a routine component of SSTI management.

Setting-up a prospective multi-centre study involving patients presenting to emergency departments with SSTIs in several European countries would allow drawing a picture on the role and the respective contribution of MSSA, MRSA and PVL-producing S. aureus strains as a cause of SSTIs. However, the roles of emergency rooms and local policies with regard to performing microbiological analysis after surgical drainage of SSTIs vary between countries.

In order to evaluate the feasibility of such multicenter European study, we aim at performing a pilot study based on few European clinical laboratories (five to seven) which will: i) evaluate the prevalence of MSSA, MRSA and S. aureus PVL-positive strains in community-acquired SSTIs; and ii) determine molecular characteristics of the isolated strains. The main objectives of this pilot study are to collect some preliminary information on the role of S. aureus in SSTIs and to determine factors that need to be harmonized or taken into consideration for the set-up a larger prospective cross-sectional study involving more European countries with several centers per country to cover different geographical areas per country.