The rapid emergence of CAMRSA as a cause of noninvasive and invasive infections in children, which started occurring in the 1990s, has reached epidemic proportions.

The emergence of CAMRSA as a cause of common infections may require a change in the initial selection of antibiotics to assure appropriate coverage in critically ill children.

Background: At Driscoll Children's Hospital (Corpus Christi, Tex), we observed that most infants and children hospitalized for treatment of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia received broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics despite having typical RSV signs and symptoms and positive RSV-rapidantigen tests on admission. Physicians were concerned about the possibility of concurrent serious bacterial infections, especially in infants younger than 3 months and in those with infiltrates present on the chest x-ray films.