TABLE 3.

Annual cost estimate of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) to the Canadian health care system – 2004

	Rate/1000 admissions*	Number of hospitalizations†	Number of cases	Cost per patient‡ (2005 dollars)		Cost in Canada (2005 dollars)		Average
				Minimum	Maximum	Minimum	Maximum
MRSA infection	1.73	2,786,545	4821	$6,878	$17,553	$33,157,558	$84,619,546	$58,888,552
MRSA colonization	4.17	2,786,545	11,620	$1,506	$1,506	$17,499,558	$17,499,558	$17,499,558
MRSA infrastructure§						$3,191,860	$7,736,842	$5,464,351
Total cost						$53,848,977	$109,855,947	$81,852,462

^*Unpublished data;

^†Data from reference 29;

^‡Estimated from minimum and maximum for each cost component published in the literature (see Table 2) and adjusted for inflation with the Consumer Price Index;

^§Data from references 22 and 24