In Reply: We thank Hurley for his comments on our meta-analysis.1 However, we strongly dispute that our analytical technique is flawed, and argue that we have been extremely cautious in drawing our conclusions. Hurley's contention is that hospital length of stay before bacteraemia (LOS) is a surrogate for severity of underlying disease and risk for colonisation with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and that these factors explain the higher mortality in patients with MRSA.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1 Infection Management Services, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane, QLD.
- 2 NSW Hospital Infection, Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Sydney, NSW.
- 3 Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW.