Washington (SmartAboutHealth) - The number of kids in the U.S. being infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or the MRSA superbug has increased a great deal over the past few years.

A study was led by Dr. Steven Sobol of Emory University to focus on MRSA infection rates among kids.

They honed in by looking at data on over 21,000 kids from over 300 hospitals.

All of the children in the study were between the ages of 1 and 18-years old.

What researchers found was that from 2001 to 2006, the rate of infections in kids spiked from 12% up to 28%.

Also startling is the fact that over 50% of the cases were developed outside of a hospital.

The study has been published in the Archives of Otalaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.