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BackgroundWe estimated the nationwide burden of nosocomial S. aureus bloodstream infection (SA-BSI), a major cause of nosocomial infection, in South Korea.MethodsTo evaluate the nationwide incidence of nosocomial SA-BSI, cases of SA-BSI were prospectively collected from 22 hospitals with over 500 beds over 4?months. Data on patient-days were obtained from a national health insurance database containing the claims data for all healthcare facilities in South Korea. The additional cost of SA-BSI was estimated through a matched case?control study. The economic burden was calculated from the sum of the medical costs, the costs of caregiving and loss of productivity.ResultsThree hundred and thirty nine cases of nosocomial SA-BSI were included in the study: 254 cases of methicillin-resistant SA-BSI (MRSA-BSI) and 85 cases of methicillin-susceptible SA-BSI (MSSA-BSI). Death related to BSI occurred in 81 cases (31.9%) of MRSA-BSI and 12 cases (14.1%) of MSSA-BSI. The estimated incidence of nosocomial MRSA-BSI was 0.12/1,000 patient-days and that of nosocomial MSSA-BSI, 0.04/1,000 patient-days. The estimated annual cases of nosocomial BSI were 2,946 for MRSA and 986 for MSSA in South Korea. The additional economic burden per case of nosocomial SA-BSI was US $20,494 for MRSA-BSI and $6,914 for MSSA-BSI. Total additional annual cost of nosocomial SA-BSI was $67,192,559.ConclusionIn view of the burden of nosocomial SA-BSI, a national strategy for reducing nosocomial SA-BSI is urgently needed in South Korea.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12879-014-0590-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

BackgroundThere are limited data describing the clinical characteristics of pyogenic spondylitis caused by Gram-negative bacteria (GNB). The aim of this study was to investigate the predisposing factors and clinical characteristics of pyogenic spondylitis caused by GNB compared to Gram-positive cocci (GPC).MethodsWe performed a retrospective review of medical records from patients with culture-confirmed pyogenic spondylitis at four tertiary teaching hospitals over an 8-year period.ResultsA total of 344 patients with culture-confirmed pyogenic spondylitis were evaluated. There were 62 patients (18.0%) with pyogenic spondylitis caused by GNB and the most common organism was Escherichia coli (n = 35, 10.2%), followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 10, 2.9%). Pyogenic spondylitis caused by GNB was more frequently associated with the female gender (64.5 vs. 35.5%, P <0.01), preexisting or synchronous genitourinary tract infection (32.3 vs. 2.1%, P< 0.01), and intra-abdominal infection (12.9 vs. 0.4%, P< 0.01) compared to patients with GPC. Although pyogenic spondylitis caused by GNB presented with severe sepsis more frequently (24.2 vs. 11.3%, P = 0.01), the mortality rate (6.0 vs. 5.2%) and the proportion of patients with residual disability (6.0 vs. 9.0%), defined as grade 3 or 4 (P = 0.78) 3 months after completion of treatment, were not significantly different compared to GPC patients.ConclusionGNB should be considered as the etiologic organism when infectious spondylitis develops in a patient with preexisting or synchronous genitourinary tract and intra-abdominal infection. In addition, the mortality rate and clinical outcomes are not significantly different between pyogenic spondylitis caused by GNB and GPC.

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