Staphylococcal sepsis remains a significant healthcare problem worldwide, both in the community and in hospital practice. The literature demonstrates that outcomes are suboptimal for some cases of invasive staphylococcal infection. Factors known to impact on outcomes include resistance, especially methicillin-resistance, and toxin production such as TSST-1 and PVL.

To understand the local epidemiology of severe Staphylococcus aureus disease in Australia and New Zealand a cooperative, under the auspices of the Australian Society for Antimicrobials, has been established; the Australian New Zealand Cooperative on Outcomes in Staphylococcal Sepsis (ANZCOSS).

Initial objective:

Gathering basic data on outcomes is considered the first important objective. The cooperative needs to define the extent of the problem in hospital practice, and document outcomes before it can start planning future studies and interventions. To achieve this goal, at least 12 months of preliminary national data are required on outcomes of S aureus sepsis.

Participating institutions will submit, on-line, basic demographic, risk factor and outcome data on patients with S aureus sepsis seen at their sites on a continuous basis, with the first full review of outcome data occurring after 12 months of data have been entered.

ANZCOSS invites all institutions in Australia and New Zealand to become a member of the cooperative.

A copy of the User's Manual contains amongst other things the definitions, forms and data entry requirements and details for the ANZCOSS study.

We request all participants submit a letter to their hospital ethics committee stating that they are undertaking a quality assurance or similar study and requesting a waiver from full formal HREC submission. An example of such a submission is included in the User’s manual.

For further information please do not hesitate to contact Despina Kotsanas (ANZCOSS Data Administrator) despina.kotsanas@southernhealth.org.au

AUSCOSS DATA BASE: LOGON