• Ashkan Moazzez, Rebecca L Kelso, Shirin Towfigh, Helen Sohn, Thomas V Berne, and Rodney J Mason.
• Division of Emergency (Non-Trauma) Surgery, Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90035, USA.
• Arch Surg Chicago. 2007 Sep 1;142(9):881-4.

HypothesisIncreasing rates of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections have also affected the microbial profile of breast abscesses.ObjectiveTo update the decade-old bacteriologic description of breast abscesses to improve the choice of initial antibacterial drug therapy.DesignRetrospective case series.SettingCounty hospital emergency department.PatientsForty-four women (mean age, 41 years; age range, 20-63 years) with breast abscesses.MethodsAll cultures from the breast abscesses of patients were reviewed.Main Outcome MeasuresThe microbiologic features and sensitivities of breast abscesses.ResultsOf 46 specimens only 28 showed bacterial yield (61%). Of these, 11 (39%) were polymicrobial, for an average of 1.4 isolates per specimen. The most common organism was S aureus, present in 12 of 37 aerobic cultures (32%), with MRSA in 7 (58%). The remaining organisms included coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (16%), diphtheroids (16%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (8%), Proteus mirabilis (5%), and other isolates (22%). All MRSA was sensitive to clindamycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and linezolid. Only 2 patients (29%) were sensitive to levofloxacin. Two anaerobic cultures were positive for Propionibacterium acnes and Peptostreptococcus anaerobius.ConclusionsStaphylococcus aureus is the most common pathogenic organism in modern breast abscesses. Many breast abscesses have community-acquired MRSA, with more than 50% of all S aureus and 19% of all cultures being MRSA. This finding parallels the local and national increases in MRSA reported in other soft-tissue infections. With increasing bacterial resistance and more minimally invasive management of breast abscesses, understanding the current bacteriologic profile of these abscesses is essential to determining the correct empirical antibiotic drug therapy.

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