What is the rate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative infections in open fractures?

Background: There have been increasing reports of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the community, but it is unclear whether infectious organisms in open fracture infections have changed and if our current regimen of antibiotic prophylaxis is therefore obsolete.

Questions/purposes: We determined the recent incidence of MRSA and Gram-negative organism infections after open fractures.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study on 189 patients with 202 open fractures treated from 2009 to 2010.