What is the prevalence of MRSA in the UK?
MRSA are one of the most prevalent micro-organisms involved with healthcare-associated infections worldwide. Most patients who are colonized with MRSA do not go on to develop an infection. The surveillance of MRSA in the UK is a mandatory scheme run by the Department of Health and measures the number of blood-stream infections reported by Acute NHS Trusts. The latest data are available under Mandatory Surveillance. MRSA strains were first seen in many countries in the 1960s, but new strains appeared in the 1980s, which have caused outbreaks of infection in hospitals throughout the world including the UK . Further new strains also emerged during the 1990s.
