The changing epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection: a multinational population-based surveillance study

Although the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (BSI) has been changing, international comparisons are lacking. We sought to determine the incidence of S. aureus BSI and assess trends over time and by region. Population-based surveillance was conducted nationally in Finland and regionally in Canberra, Australia, western Sweden, and three areas in each of Canada and Denmark during 2000–2008. Incidence rates were age-standardized and gender-standardized to the EU 27-country 2007 population. During 83 million person-years of surveillance, 18 430 episodes of S. aureus BSI were identified. The overall annual incidence rate for S. aureus BSI was 26.1 per 100 000 population, and those for methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) were 24.2 and 1.9 per 100 000, respectively. Although the overall incidence of community-onset MSSA BSI (15.0 per 100 000) was relatively similar across regions, the incidence rates of hospital-onset MSSA (9.2 per 100 000), community-onset MRSA (1.0 per 100 000) and hospital-onset MRSA (0.8 per 100 000) BSI varied substantially. Whereas the overall incidence of S. aureus BSI did not increase over the study period, there was an increase in the incidence of MRSA BSI. Major changes in the occurrence of community-onset and hospital-onset MSSA and MRSA BSI occurred, but these varied significantly among regions, even within the same country. Although major changes in the epidemiology of community-onset and hospital-onset MSSA and MRSA BSIs are occurring, this multinational population-based study did not find that the overall incidence of S. aureus BSI is increasing.