MRSA Head and Neck Infections Increase Among Children

Rates of antibiotic-resistant head and neck infections increased in pediatric patients nationwide between 2001 and 2006, according to a report in the January issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.

Before the 1980s, infections with strains of the bacteria Staphylococcus aureus resistant to the antibiotic methicillin (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA) were most often acquired in the hospital, according to background information in the article. However, during the past decade, community-acquired MRSA infections have become more common in prisons, nursing homes and among chronically ill patients and in individuals without established risk factors. “Staphylococcus aureus is a pathogen commonly seen in many infections involving the head and neck,” the authors write. “In recent years, there have been increasing reports of community-acquired MRSA infections in children.”

Iman Naseri, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues reviewed data regarding pediatric head and neck infections that occurred at more than 300 hospitals nationwide between 2001 and 2006. Sites of infection were divided into oropharyngeal/neck, sinonasal and otologic, and demographic and antibiotic resistance patterns were reviewed.