Costs of hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and its control.

For most countries badly affected by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) there have been many years of debate about its relative virulence compared with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and whether it could be controlled. Now that it is endemic in the majority of hospitals around the world, it is clear that it is at least as virulent as MSSA and is an additional burden of healthcare-acquired infection. There is increasing evidence that, despite this endemicity, control efforts can be successful, although they are often perceived as expensive. In reality, there is a large body of consistent evidence that control is highly cost effective, particularly in the context of the huge societal costs of MRSA and the future ever-greater threats that it poses.