>>April 15th

The Press Association:  Breakthrough in superbug fight

Queen’s University Belfast may have made a breakthrough discovery in superbug’s natural resistance to disinfectants.

Many types of bacteria, such as MRSA, exist in colonies that adhere to the surfaces of materials.

The colonies often form coatings, known as biofilms, that protect them from antiseptics, disinfectants, and antibiotics.

Assistant director at Quill [Queen's University Ionic Liquid Laboratories (Quill)] Mr Earle added: “We have shown that, when pitted against the ionic liquids (salts) we developed and tested, biofilms offer little or no protection to MRSA, or to seven other infectious micro-organisms.”

>>April 16th

‘We’ve cut MRSA rate to zero’ – city hospital

A hospital in Ireland adopts Scandanavian anti-HAI, which proves dramatically effective.

The Mater Private Hospital in Dublin has cut its MRSA infection rate to zero due to the introduction of a new Scandinavian hygienic programme.

The ‘Search and Destroy’ scheme has been implemented over the past few years and there were zero recorded MRSA-related infections in the hospital in 2008.

…

Ms Higgins said that MRSA needs to be tackled by a combination of actions and that this particular technique involves swabbing certain high-risk patients for the infection at the time of admission to hospital.

A representative said that patients with MRSA, as well as those who have a high risk of infection, are isolated from other patients

Superbug payments under spotlight

Investigative news program highlights the millions of pounds paid out in the UK to claims involving HAI:

Millions of pounds were paid out in patient compensation claims involving allegations about hospital superbugs in the past five years, Channel 4 News online has found.

The payout figures, obtained from the NHS under freedom of information (FoI) laws, reveal the number of settlements made to victims when MRSA or C. diff allegations were included as part of their overall claim for compensation for injury.

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According to the figures, obtained from the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which defends compensation claims for health authorities, £4,000,462 was paid out to 44 claimants who included MRSA allegations as part of their overall claim in 2005, £1,964,617 to 32 claimants in 2006, £4,964,679 to 63 claimants in 2007, and £1,493,410 to 27 claimants last year.

>>March 21st

Simple techniques slash hospital infections: meeting

Jasper Palmer didn’t think he was doing anything special when he balled up his paper hospital gown and stuffed it into one of his gloves. He just knew it was tidy and would stop the gown from spreading germs.

But the technique is one of the simple innovations that has reduced rates of infection with so-called superbugs at his and other hospitals by 26 percent to 62 percent, infection control experts told a meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America in San Diego on Saturday.

>>March 23rd

Simple ideas from hospital staff cut superbug rates

Borrowing ideas from hospital workers who have devised their own clever strategies for reducing superbug spread can lead to huge drops in infection rates throughout a hospital, say infection control experts.

The experts told a meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America in San Diego on Saturday that using an approach called positive deviance (PD) at three U.S. hospitals helped to reduce the incidence of MRSA (multifaceted methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) at their facilities by 26 to 62 per cent.

>>March 25th

Northern Ireland scientists find a new weapon in MRSA war

A new weapon that could help wipe out the deadly MRSA virus has been developed by researchers from Northern Ireland.
Experts from Queen’s University have discovered new agents that can kill colonies of MRSA and other antiboitic resistant hospital-acquired infections.

The antimicrobial agents also prevent any growth of the potentially lethal bacteria.

C difficile outbreak leaves three hospital patients dead

Three patients have died as a direct result of a C difficile outbreak at hospital in the South East.

East Sussex Hospitals trust has recorded 62 cases of the infection at Eastbourne District General Hospital since 1 January and has reviewed the histories of the affected patients.

The trust said on Tuesday that three patients had died as a direct result of being infected and it had contributed to a further 10 deaths.

>>March 27th

‘Search and destroy’ kills MRSA

A private hospital in Dublin has instituted a strict ’search-and-destroy’ policy to combat MRSA infections.

See a video of Dr. Fidelma Fitzpatrick from the Irish Health Protection Surveillance Centre discuss the facts of healthcare-associated infections here.

Environmental cleaning intervention reduces transmission of multidrug-resistant organisms in ICUs

A rigorous environmental cleaning intervention can reduce the transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other multidrug-resistant organisms in hospital intensive care units (ICUs), according to a new study released today at the annual meeting of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA). Researchers found that following an enhanced cleaning protocol reduced the spread of MRSA to patients exposed to rooms in which the prior occupant had been colonized or infected.

>>Feb 25/09

Reducing bacterial contamination using silver antimicrobial technology
New study examines whether the use of silver-treated materials can help contain the spread of nosocomial infections.

>>Feb 26/09

High-tech innovations to combat MRSA and C. diff are unveiled
Modern methods for combating MRSA to be piloted in seven NHS hospitals.

Portable hand washing stations, infection resistant loos, and pop-up isolation rooms are among the new technologies hospitals will be introducing to combat MRSA and C. diff, ministers said.

>>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.

>>Feb 7/09

MRSA’s on the Move
Nurses dealing with the risks when MRSA moves from hospitals to community-based clinics — particularly for patients with diabetes.

“MRSA is not a word we take lightly around here,” said Candy Gauthier, LPN, staff nurse in The William W. Backus Hospital department of endocrinology and metabolism, an offsite clinic based in Norwich, CT. “It’s scary to think that this is not just occurring in the hospital anymore.”

>>Feb 9/09

Next Biotech Opportunity Could be in Hospital-Acquired Infections
Kalorama Information, a medical market business intelligence firm, speculates in their new report that it will be biotech companies who lead the way in combatting HAI.

Hospital acquired infections (HAI) are exacting a significant toll on human life, ranking among the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. With an estimated 5%-10% hospital patients acquiring an infection, about two million cases each year and about 90,000 deaths, there is a huge associated financial burden which a new report from Kalorama Information, “Nosocomial Infections: Market Assessment for Diagnostics and Therapeutics,” estimates at between $4.5 billion and $5.78 billion annually.

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“HAIs, especially the foreign bugs, are a considerable problem and the healthcare community needs help,” said Bruce Carlson, publisher of Kalorama Information. “Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical industry has practically abandoned developing treatments. It will fall to the biotechnology community, and biotech companies have a market opportunity here that could provide them a major revenue stream.”

>>Feb 12/09

“The war against superbugs”
CBC digs into the “War on Superbugs”:

“A study published in the American Journal of Infection Control in December 2008, found that rates of hospital-acquired infections soared in Canada between 1999 and 2005.

Rates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – known as MRSA — more than doubled in the period from 1999 to 2005, said the study, which was based on a survey of hospitals with 80 or more beds.

There were 5.2 cases of MRSA per 1,000 hospital admissions in 2005, up from two per 1,000 in 1999. There was also an upward trend in C. difficile infections, and the number of hospitals reporting new cases of infection with VRE soared.”

>>Feb 13/09

BioScience Laboratories Approved to Test MRSA on Human Volunteers
In the States, BioScience Laboratories have received approval to begin testing their product’s efficacy against MRSA on human skin.

Staphylococcus Aureus is a type of bacterium that lives on the skin and mucous membranes of healthy people. Occasionally, S. Aureus can cause an infection. When S. Aureus develops resistance to certain antibiotics, it is called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, or MRSA.