Weekly News Round-Up: February 20th, 2009
>>Feb 16/09
States consider requiring hospitals to screen for MRSA
Four states (California, Illinois, New Jersey and Pennsylvania) require hospitals to screen high-risk patients for MRSA. Eight states considered such legislation last year, and Washington and Kentucky filed new bills in late January.
The rate of patients entering the hospital with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus increased eightfold between 1999 and 2006. Politicians in statehouses around the country say hospitals need to take a more active approach to stopping MRSA’s spread.
A show of hands reveals the value of good hygiene
A study at the Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center gives a visceral lesson in the need for cleaning protocols and hand hygiene:
To show how infected – and contagious – an asymptomatic carrier could be, a physician examined the patient with an ungloved hand and then pressed his hand into a petri dish. After incubation, researchers were surprised to see MRSA bacteria growing in the dish so thickly that images of the physician’s fingers are easily discernable.
Jury awards $17.5 million to man who lost limbs from MRSA infection
A Texan man has been awarded a multi-million dollar settlement after he lost his limbs to gangrene that set in after septic shock from undiagnosed MRSA.
>>Feb 17/09
Bacterial Infections in Hospitals Decline
Time Magazine writes on the misleading nature of headline-grabbing superbug scares – that despite stories about sports teams and schools, superbugs are still largely found only in hospital settings.
The goal now is to further reduce the risk of MRSA in vulnerable populations by identifying them early on: according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, 10 states currently require screening of high-risk patients, including those in the ICU and with weaker immune systems, for MRSA, and other states may soon adopt similar screening laws.
The percentage of MRSA infections in proportion to infections that are susceptible to antibiotics went up over the same time period that the actual incidence of MRSA declined. That discrepancy potentially contributed to the perception that the problem has increased, the researchers said.
It’s important for hospitals to use both measurements, proportion and incidence, to get a true picture of how well the infections are handled, the study’s authors said.
Staph hits local hospitals
A cluster of Australian hospitals experience a rise in VRE and MRSA infections.
Deadly bacteria defy drugs, alarming doctors
A new category of bacteria, Acinetobacter, is increasing in both prevalence, and resistance to antibiotics.
…a January report by the Infectious Diseases Society of America warned that drug-resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii and two other microbes — Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae — could soon produce a toll to rival MRSA’s.
The three bugs belong to a large category of bacteria called “gram-negative” that are especially hard to fight because they are wrapped in a double membrane and harbor enzymes that chew up many antibiotics. As dangerous as MRSA is, some antibiotics can still treat it, and more are in development, experts say.
But the drugs once used to treat gram-negative bacteria are becoming ineffective, and finding effective new ones is especially challenging.
“We’re literally running out of drugs to treat gram-negatives,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, an infectious disease specialist at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. “And there is nothing in the pipeline right now.”
Mobile phones ’spread bugs in hospitals’
Scientists at Edinburgh University have found that up to a quarter of phones carried by hospital staff are contaminated with bacteria — including MRSA.
Hospitals tackle MRSA
All patients admitted to two Maryland-area hospital critical or special-care units are now checked for MRSA (with nasal swabs) — and early results are showing 1-in-5 patients are carriers.
Patients with the MRSA strain are put into contact isolation, which would call for anyone entering that room to wear a protective gown and gloves. The housekeeping staff would be notified of the bacteria in that particular room, so they’ll know what type of cleaning to do.
Officials there also have learned that they can prevent spread by working with patients who do not have the strain. In the critical and special-care units, for example, skin care cloths that were once only used prior to surgery are now used as bath cloths. Using these cloths daily reduces the bacteria on the skin.
“MRSA is more than worrying about touching the patient. It’s also touching the environment around the patient, cleaning it and making sure (it’s safe),” Van Waes said. “We think what we’re doing is paying off. … (Infection prevention) often comes down to looking at the basics – clean hands of health care workers and clean environments.”
>>Feb 18/09
U.S. ICUs see big drop in staph infections
Good news, bad news for MRSA in US ICUs. MRSA rates experienced a significant drop:
“The results may be evidence that some hospitals are finally getting a leg up on deadly drug-resistant germs, through increased vigilance and sanitation.”
Though:
“they point out that while the actual number of MRSA cases fell by half during the study period, the overall percentage of infections caused by MRSA increased.”
>>Feb 19/09
Surge in hospital superbugs ‘alarming’
New Zealand health critic highlights a 150-fold increase in VRE outbreaks:
Five years ago there was one case of VRE a year; last year there were 154.
“This could be just the tip of the iceberg as there is no effective monitoring of antibiotic-resistant infections in New Zealand,” Ms Kedgley said.
‘This exponential increase is alarming. New Zealand is losing the war against drug resistant bacterial infections.”
State doctors’ group fights MRSA screening bill
“The Washington State Medical Association, which represents more than 9,000 physicians, is fighting a bill that would require doctors to screen vulnerable patients for a potentially deadly germ called MRSA.”
>>Feb 20/09
Bacteria resistant superbugs found in water supply
Researchers behind a 2006 study that found MRSA and VRE in hospital wastewater are alarmed that the State Government has failed to act on their findings.
A Central Queensland University scientist who helped carry out the research told me 97 per cent of hospital sewage discharge lines tested positive for antibiotic resistant bacteria.
He said 70 per cent of hospital discharges tested positive for both MRSA and VRE.
“We got a lot more of those bacteria than we thought possible,” he said.
“The MRSA and VRE are a major source of deaths from medical infections.
“Even though they have passed through a treatment process, the bacteria are most likely getting back into natural waterways, dams and ponds used for swimming, boating, fishing and in food production.
“Strangely, they are not routinely tested in water management systems.
“A sample can come back lacking in, for instance, E. coli bacteria, so it’s wrongly assumed it’s safe.”
Tags: hai, mrsa, news round-up, strategies, superbugs
