Resistencia antimicrobiana del Staphylococcus aureus en México

since the beginning of their selection, methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus strains (mrsa) have disseminated worldwide. although the problem was restricted at first to hospitals (ha-mrsa, hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), in the 1990s the first cases in patients with no history of hospitalization were reported. these new strains were referred to as ca-mrsa (community-acquired mrsa). as a result of the increasing resistance in hospitals (from 2% to 64% in 30 years), there is a current threat to public health in the community. the mechanisms that contributed to the selection of ca-mrsa are still controversial. in mexico, information regarding this problem has been reduced to reports from tertiary-care level hospitals. frequency of mrsa strains is high (50-85%). therapeutic options are multiple, but a careful selection of the type of infection and patient risk factors must be acknowledged. until now, the only useful preventive measure to contain bacterial resistance is appropriate antimicrobial use.