Proposal for common Nordic epidemiological terms and definitions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

: Skov R, Gudlaugsson O, Hardardottir H, Harthug S, Jakobsen T, Kolmos HJ, Olsson-Liljequist B, Peltonen R, Tveten Y, Vuopio-Varkila J, Ahrén C

: 2008

: Scandinavian Journal of Infectious Diseases

: Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases

: Scand J Infect Dis

: 40

: 6-7

: 495

: 502

: 8

: 0036-5548

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00365540701864658

The recent increase in the incidence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in all the Nordic countries prompted the Scandinavian Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (SSAC) to create the 'SSAC Working Party on MRSA' with the objective to identify methods to keep the invasive MRSA infections in the Nordic countries below 1%. The lack of common definitions was recognized as a major obstacle for a joint Nordic effort to combat MRSA. The aim of this publication is to present proposals for epidemiological definitions of individual cases, for how to report MRSA frequency per country, and for communication of MRSA strain characteristics between the countries.