Incidence rates of infection after primary total-joint replacement have historically ranged between 1% and 2%, whereas for revision procedures, they range from 3% to 4%. When an infection occurs, the resulting costs can exceed three to four times the cost of a primary total-joint replacement resulting in a large financial burden to both the patient and the health care system. The most common offending organisms are typically Staphylococcus species, namely, Staphylococcus aureus or Staphylococcus epidermidis.
Decades earlier, most of these organisms were sensitive to first-line antibiotics; however, more recently, there has been an alarming trend of higher rates of methicillin-resistant infective organisms causing periprosthetic infections. Worrisome statistics A group reported a steady increase in the prevalence of infections caused by methicillin-resistant organisms, most prominently…
