Heart valve swab: Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) – Shipped 02 November 2015
HISTORY
A simulated OR heart valve swab collected from 28 year old IV drug user was sent to category A laboratories.
Participants were expected to isolate and identify MRSA. Participants were also expected to perform susceptibility testing and report isolate to infection control (IC)/public health (PH).
MAIN EDUCATIONAL POINTS from M153-5
- Infective endocarditis can be a complication of injection drug use, particularly with gram positive organisms such as MRSA.
- Appropriate labelling of the isolate as MRSA and correct reporting to Infection Control or Public Health is important to prevent the transmission of MRSA.
- The antimicrobial cornerstone of native-valve MRSA infective endocarditis treatment is vancomycin in susceptible isolates, and timely, accurate susceptibility testing is critical for effective patient management.
