Staphylococcus - Research Paper Example

The different species prove to be dangerous because they show resistance towards methicillin and other potent antibiotics (Acton, 2012, pg.38). Incidence of a disease is defined as risk of contracting a disease. Hence various studies have been conducted to assess the incidence of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus. There was a dramatic increase in the number of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus cases in the late 1990s in America. The strain was seen to cause infections in children who were not at risk.

The children had not had recent hospitalization, surgery, injection infusion nor had they resided in a medical facility for a long time. Four fatal pediatric cases also emerged between 1996 and 1999. This raised questions. The methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus could be acquired in the community, and this also suggested that a new strain of the bacterium was present which differed from the already present strain in hospital settings (Song et al, 2013, pg. 69). The epidemiology of methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus is continuously changing due to its capability to resist.

This trait makes it hard to treat these infections. Hence regular surveillance studies are held to assess the status of disease. Surveillance studies from 1990s indicated an increase in the incidence of MRSA infections. The role of surveillance studies is to lower morbidity, mortality and incidence of disease (Meija et al, 2015, pg. 79). Methicillin resistance is a universal problem but is more prevalent in countries where use of antibiotics is high. American and China have the highest rate of antibiotic consumption and hence face the most cases of methicillin resistance (Tisserand, 2015, pg. 20). The normal bacterial flora of humans includes S.

aureus often. Studies indicate that the organism is present in the nasal colonization of the adult population. Staphylococcus aureus