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Community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) skin infections are now seen in virtually every emergency department in the U.S. Recent reports of fatal community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) caused by CA-MRSA in influenza patients have raised concerns about such infections. Now, the CDC describes 10 new cases reported in January 2007 from Louisiana and Georgia.
Six cases were fatal. Median patient age was 17.5 years; 8 patients were younger than 30. Nine patients had been previously healthy. Four patients either had documented CA-MRSA skin or soft-tissue infections or were living with someone who had such infection. Six patients had laboratory-confirmed influenza. In three patients, MRSA was recovered only from sputum. …