Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia (SAB) in Australian public hospitals 2015–16

SAB is a serious bloodstream infection that may be associated with hospital care. Hospitals aim to have as few cases as possible.

The nationally agreed benchmark is no more than 2.0 SAB cases per 10,000 days of patient care for public hospitals in each state and territory.

Map of Australia showing no of SAB cases: NSW 0.71, VIC 0.71, QLD 0.69, WA 0.90, SA 0.67, TAS 0.89; ACT 0.79, NT 0.58

In 2015–16:

  • all jurisdictions had rates below the national benchmark
  • the national rate of SAB in public hospitals was 0.73 cases per 10,000 days of patient care
  • 1,440 cases of SAB were reported
  • 81% of cases were treatable with commonly used antibiotics- methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) cases
  • 19% of cases were antibiotic resistant-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) cases.

Between 2011–12 and 2015–16, rates of SAB decreased from 0.96 cases to 0.73 cases per 10,000 days of patient care.

SAB cases per 10,000 days of patient care

stacked line chart showing for (MRSA, MSSA, Total SAB); years (2 011-12 to 2015-16) on the x axis; cases (0.0 to 1.2) on the y axis.

 

Overall, the number of SAB cases decreased from 1,732 in 2011–12 to 1,440 cases in 2015–16. The number of MRSA cases decreased from 422 to 280 cases.

MRSA and MSSA cases

Vertical bar chart showing for (MSSA, MRSA); years (2 011-12 to 2015-16) on the x axis; cases (0 to 2,000) on the y axis.