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agr dysfunction and persistent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in patients with removed eradicable foci

  • Clinical and Epidemiological Study
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Abstract

Purpose

Persistent Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB) has been observed in patients with eradicated foci, but there are few studies of the risk factors and clinical outcomes of persistent bacteremia. This study determined the risk factors for persistent methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) bacteremia in patients without retained eradicable foci, including genotypic characteristics.

Methods

All adult SAB patients were investigated between 2008 and 2010. Persistent bacteremia was defined as bacteremia lasting >7 days after treatment and patients were monitored prospectively. The study included patients without retained eradicable foci, e.g., removed prosthetic devices and intravenous catheters removed after diagnosis, and those without metastatic infections.

Results

Persistent bacteremia occurred in 36 % (31/87) SAB patients with eradicated foci. There were no significant differences in successful defervescence (2.0 vs. 2.0 days, P = 0.55) and total length of hospital stay after bacteremia in the persistent bacteremia group and resolved bacteremia group (P = 0.32). The difference in MRSA bacteremia-related 30-day mortality with persistent bacteremia and resolved bacteremia was not significant (P = 0.12). However, agr dysfunction was higher in persistent bacteremia patients (94 %) than those with resolved bacteremia (75 %, P = 0.03). Multivariate analysis using a logistic regression model found that only agr dysfunction [odds ratio (OR) 4.83, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.02–22.89, P = 0.04] was an independent risk factor for persistent bacteremia.

Conclusions

This study suggests that persistent bacteremia with eradicated foci might not adversely affect the outcome for MRSA bacteremia patients. agr dysfunction in S. aureus was significantly associated with persistent bacteremia.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Future-based Technology Development Program (BIO Fields) through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (grant numbers: 2010-0028746, 2010-0028747, and 2010-0028748).

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infectious Disease, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 138-736, Republic of Korea

    S.-Y. Park, Y. P. Chong, H. J. Park, K.-H. Park, S. M. Moon, S.-H. Kim, S.-O. Lee, S.-H. Choi, J. H. Woo & Y. S. Kim

  2. Department of Asan Institute of Life Sciences, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    J.-Y. Jeong

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    M.-N. Kim

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  1. S.-Y. Park
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  2. Y. P. Chong
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  4. K.-H. Park
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Correspondence to Y. S. Kim.

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Park, SY., Chong, Y.P., Park, H.J. et al. agr dysfunction and persistent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia in patients with removed eradicable foci. Infection 41, 111–119 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-012-0348-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s15010-012-0348-0

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