16 Aug 2016
Study confirms golden staph a public health threat to children
The first study to investigate Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections in Australian and New Zealand children has found that more than 70 per cent of infections were acquired in the community rather than hospital settings.
Staphylococcus aureus, more commonly referred to as golden staph, is a bacterium that lives on the skin or in the nose, causing a range of mild to severe infections and in some cases death[1].
The study, published in JAMA Pediatrics[2] today, is the first to describe how common golden staph infections are in Australian and New Zealand children, with results concluding the annual incidence for Australian children was 8.3 per 100,000 of the population and 14.4 per 100,000 in New Zealand. Furthermore, infections were found to be three times more common in Australian Indigenous children than in non-Indigenous Australian children and five times in Maori children compared to non-Maori children.
Professor John Turnridge, Clinical Professor of Paediatrics and Pathology at the University of Adelaide, said severe golden staph infections are not just picked up in hospitals, but usually by healthy kids in the community.
"Invasive staphylococcal infection is a serious condition at every age - neonates, infants and children are just as vulnerable. Early recognition and intervention with antimicrobials is the key.”
The study also examined the impact of different treatments for golden staph in children and found that a common treatment, vancomycin, wasn’t as effective as other therapies. The mortality rate was 14 per cent in children with sensitive golden staph (i.e. not Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) treated with vancomycin compared with 2.6 per cent in children treated with alternative agents.
Associate Professor Steven Tong, an NHMRC Career Development Fellow at the Menzies School of Health Research and a Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH) infectious diseases physician at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (a joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The RMH), said treatment with the right antibiotic was crucial.
“Treating golden staph that is sensitive to penicillin-like antibiotics with vancomycin, one of our last line antibiotics, rather than with penicillin-like antibiotics, results in higher mortality rates.”
Dr Asha Bowen, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and an NHMRC Early Career Fellow at the Telethon Kids Institute, said, “There is no vaccine for golden staph so prevention, including washing hands, is very important.”
Dr Brendan McMullan, a paediatric infectious diseases specialist and microbiologist at UNSW, said, “Parents should be aware of this bug and Governments need to reduce the burden and impact of these infections, particularly in Australian Indigenous and Māori/Pacific children.”
This work is part of a national study that involved clinicians from all around Australia and New Zealand and will inform further research into better treatments for golden staph in children.
[1]www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
[2] Epidemiology and Mortality of Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia in Australian and New Zealand Children, JAMA Pediatrics, August 15, 2016