Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was responsible for 126,000 hospitalizations in the U.S. between 1999 and 2005, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and is causing an increasing numbers of deaths and disabilities. To make matters worse, several recent MRSA cases in the U.S. have been resistant to both methicillin and to the last-ditch antibiotic vancomycin.

Researchers who wrote "Can methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus be found in an ambulance fleet?" - published in the April-June issue of Prehospital Emergency Care - found 10 out of 21 ambulances examined in a large urban system were contaminated with MRSA in at least one location. "The ambulance environment may be significantly contaminated with [MRSA] and the [EMS] system could represent an important reservoir in the transmission of MRSA to patients," the report concluded.

To continue reading the article from the November 2007 JEMS, click here.