Effective prevention of hospital-acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections begins with active surveillance programs that facilitate timely interventions to decrease the spread of MRSA. Cepheid's Xpert™ MRSA delivers on-demand results in about an hour, reducing the window for potential transmissions from days to minutes, and redifining active MRSA surveillance testing. Coupled with the simplicity of Cepheid's GeneXpert® System, MRSA results can now be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

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Problem

According to the CDC, MRSA now accounts for greater than 50% of hospital-acquired S. aureus infections and 63% of S. aureus infections acquired in intensive care units in the United States (2004). Treatment of these infections has become more complex due to an alarming rise in antibiotic resistance. The human and financial impact of MRSA is high:

• Over 126,000 hospitalized persons are infected by MRSA annually
• 3.95 MRSA infections occur per 1'000 hospital discharges
• Over 5,000 patients die as a result of these infections
• Mean excess cost attributable to an MRSA infection is $21,000
• Over $2.5 billion excess health care costs are attributable to MRSA infections

Solution

Guidelines on how to reduce or eliminate these hospital-acquired infections have been put forward by several organizations, including CDC, SHEA, and APIC. Each recognizes the importance of stringent policies for the care of patients infected with MRSA to minimize its spread. To significantly reduce hospital-acquired MRSA infections, it is also important to actively identify and isolate patients that may be colonized with MRSA. Cepheid's Xpert MRSA is designed to provide on-demand results to optimize the effectiveness of active MRSA surveillance testing as a part of a heathcare organization's Infection Control Program.

Impact

"An important MRSA surveillance consideration when comparing methodologies is the length of time it takes to get results that will influence infection prevention and control interventions. Rapid MRSA assays... have the potential for results in two hours if testing is done in 'real-time'."

— From the Guide to the Elimination of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus Transmission in Hospital Settings” APIC Guide, March 2007