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Infection Protection Pack
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The widely reported MRSA bacteraemia figures account for
1/3 - 1% of all hospital acquired infection. |
Disclaimer
Infection Protection.Org do not give any warranty as to the availability, accuracy and completeness of the information and material published on our website and expressly disclaim all liability for any damage or loss resulting from your use of, or reliance on, the information and material published.
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News |
Last Update: 6th April 2010 |
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News: MRSA |
Huge rise in MRSA linked with childhood antibiotics
01 Apr 10
By Lilian Anekwe
A dramatic rise in the prescription of antibiotics for childhood skin infections has been linked with a surge in GP consultations and hospital admissions for serious MRSA infections.
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HIV Positive People Are at Increased Risk for MRSA Drug-resistant Staph Infection
SUMMARY: HIV positive people were 6 times more likely to have skin and soft tissue infections caused by community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a population-level study of Chicago's large public hospital system, and the rate more than tripled over the past few years, according to a report published in the April 1, 2010 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases.
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MRSA Action UK: Swingeing cuts will impact on tackling hospital superbugs
Monday, 29, Mar 2010 12:00
Health Protection Agency figures reveal that the deadly superbug Clostridium difficile is becoming more prevalent in the community setting than in some NHS Acute hospitals. Analysis of figures and supplementary information on MRSA and Clostridium difficile suggest that poor clinical practice is contributing to avoidable life threatening superbugs despite all the efforts that have been put into tackling healthcare associated infections.
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MRSA and C. difficile quarterly update (HPA)
19 March 2010
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has today published a quarterly epidemiological commentary on trends of MRSA (meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bloodstream infections and C. difficile (Clostridium difficile) infections from October 2007 to December 2009.
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Antiseptic baths help fight 'superbug' infections
By Anne Harding
Mon Mar 15, 2010 6:30pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bathing severely injured intensive-care patients with antiseptic-soaked washcloths can cut their risk of developing certain types of infections, and also seems to help keep drug-resistant bacteria at bay, new research shows.
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Surgical Site Infection due to MRSA: Facts, Fiction, and Frustration
6 Jan 2010
A recent study by researchers at Duke University in North Carolina found that a single patient infected with MRSA can cost a hospital $60,000.
Deverick Anderson, one of the study's authors, presents his findings and explores other related issues, including: The latest research on SSI due to MRSA, including epidemiology, risk factors, and outcomes, preventative strategies for SSI, strategies to specifically prevent SSI due to MRSA and the controversies surrounding these strategies.
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Routine nasal screening in Neonatal ICU reduced MRSA cases
Nasal screening for methicillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureus in a neonatal intensive care unit significantly reduced MRSA infection rates, according to a poster presented at the 2010 Annual Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Bethesda, Md.
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Tracking MRSA Evolution and Transmission: Revolutionary Strategy for Control and Prevention of Infection
ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2010)
For the first time, researchers have shown how transmission of MRSA from one person to another can be precisely tracked in a hospital setting. The team have developed a remarkable new method that can 'zoom' from large-scale inter-continental transmission events to the much finer detail of person-to-person infection of MRSA within a single hospital.
The ability to track strains in this way will enable researchers to understand how strains can spread so rapidly, and should lead to novel infection control strategies, not only for MRSA but also for other emerging superbugs.
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Sharing hospital room raises infection risk
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 | 2:33 PM ET
Sharing a hospital room with another person raises the risk of getting a hospital-acquired infection, Ontario scientists say.
People in semi private or ward rooms in hospitals are at increased risk of acquiring methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) and Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) — three superbugs that can be lethal in people who have compromised immune systems.
In Canada, according to the study, hospital-acquired infections kill between 8,000 and 12,000 people annually.
The greater the number of exposures to hospital roommates, the greater risk of infection with MRSA, VRE and C. difficile, the research shows. The increase in risk of infection was 10 per cent for MRSA, 11 per cent for VRE and 11 per cent for C. difficile.
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One pair of hands can trigger hospital outbreaks
Thu Oct. 22 2009 2:23:10 PM
A single doctor, nurse or physiotherapist with dirty hands can cause a widespread hospital infection, even when all other staff diligently scrubs their hands, new research finds.
The study found that a single contaminated worker who roams from patient to patient can play a disproportionate role in spreading pathogens such as MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus).
In fact, a single traveling nurse, physical therapist or food worker who failed to properly wash his or her hands after each patient visit could create a rate of infection that would be about the same as if 23 per cent of all the other staffers failed to wash their hands.
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Targeted cleaning in hospitals can cut MRSA rates and save money
3 November 2009 | By Nerys Hairon
The Department of Health has been shown evidence that just one extra cleaner on a hospital ward can reduce MRSA infections and save tens of thousands of pounds.
The year-long study, sponsored by Unison and published in a peer-reviewed journal, found that one extra cleaner, using targeted cleaning methods, had a “measurable effect on the clinical environment”, reduced new MRSA infections and saved the hospital involved £30,000-£70,000.
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Cat owners eight times more likely to have MRSA in their homes
By Nick Allen in Los Angeles
Published: 11:16PM BST 23 Sep 2009
Cat owners are eight times more likely to have the superbug MRSA in their homes, a study has found. Pet dogs, birds, rabbits and horses can also carry the disease which is “flipping” between humans and their animals, scientists believe.
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Poor communication 'spreads hospital infections'
21 September, 2009
A lack of communication between hospitals and care homes is aiding the spread of MRSA and other infections, the Care Quality Commission has claimed.
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MRSA Frequently Carried to Home Care Settings
Organism can be transmitted to caregivers, so infection control methods are important
Modern Medicine
Publish date: Aug 13, 2009
THURSDAY, Aug. 13 (HealthDay News) -- Among inpatients who are discharged to home health care, prolonged colonization with hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is common and the organism can be transmitted to household contacts, according to a study published in the Aug. 10/24 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Jean-Christophe Lucet, M.D., of Bichat-Claude Bernard Hospital in Paris, and colleagues screened 1,501 inpatients prior to discharge to home health care, identified MRSA in 191 (12.7 percent), and followed 148 MRSA patients and their household contacts.
Within one year, the researchers found that 75 patients cleared the organism, and that median time to clearance was 282 days. They also observed MRSA acquisition in 36 (19.1) percent of 188 household contacts. Household contacts were more likely to acquire MRSA if they were older (adjusted odds ratio, 1.71 per life decade) or were involved in care of the patient (adjusted odds ratio, 3.58). However, the authors note, none of the household contacts developed MRSA infection and only four were identified as persistent carriers.
"Household contacts should apply infection control measures similar to those recommended in the hospital setting," Lucet and colleagues conclude.
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News: C.difficile |
New Treatment Shown to Reduce Recurrence of Debilitating Diarrhea
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2010)
A combination of two fully human monoclonal antibodies developed by MassBiologics (MBL) of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and Medarex, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., when given with standard antibiotics, was shown to reduce recurrence of a debilitating form of diarrhea by 72 percent in patients enrolled in a Phase 2 clinical trial.
The results of the trial are reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
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Fewer elderly victims get C diff
Fewer pensioners than ever are being infected by hospital infection Clostridium difficile, new figures showed.
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But in the same period, between July and September 2009, more people aged between 15 and 65 were infected.
The figures were released as part of a series of quarterly reports into infections by Health Protection Scotland.
C.diff cases may be twice as high as tests miss infection
The number of cases of the hospital bug C.diff could be twice as high as previously thought as current tests used by the NHS are failing to pick up the infection, experts have claimed.
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Published: 7:15AM GMT 04 Nov 2009
There are around 3,000 cases of Clostridium difficile reported in hospitals in England each month but the true figure could be much higher as the current testing methods miss between 20 per cent and 80 per cent of cases, according to microbiologists.
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C. diff rise due to 'gene switch'
Sunday, 27 September 2009 00:10 UK
The rise in Clostridium difficile infections in recent years is due to genetic changes rather than dirty hospitals, say UK researchers.
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News: Antibiotics/Antibiotic Resistance |
Fight against superbugs goes underground
Scientists analyse DNA of soil microbes in hunt for next generation of antibiotics
By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Scientists are pioneering a way of discovering new antibiotics by analysing the entire genetic blueprint of soil microbes which kill their competitors by producing natural toxins. Screening soil microbes for novel antibiotics is a traditional method of discovering new drugs but the rise of resistant strains of "superbugs" is forcing scientists to take a far more radical approach to drug discovery
Read more....
Newly engineered enzyme is a powerful staph antibiotic
February 8, 2010
(PhysOrg.com) -- In the past decade, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, has ushered in a new era in the fight between man and bug. By harnessing the power of nature’s own antibiotics, scientists have engineered an enzyme known as a lysin that not only kills MRSA in mice but also works synergistically with antibiotics that were once powerless against the formidable organism.
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Antibiotic ban will endanger food safety
H. SCOTT HURD is an associate professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University. February 13, 2010
As former deputy undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a scientist who has actively researched food safety for over 20 years, I'm disappointed by recent media reports blaming antibiotic use in livestock for most antibiotic resistance in humans.
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Free radicals may cause mutations that create superbugs
February 12, 2010
DEBRA BLACK, STAFF REPORTER
New research has found that low levels of antibiotics boost the production of free radicals which in turn cause mutations in the DNA of bacteria, causing superbugs that are resistant to treatment, according to a study published in a recent issue of Molecular Cell.
Read more....
Breakthrough for development of antibacterials
As of today, the health ministers of the 27 European Union member states have adopted council conclusions concerning innovative incentives for effective antibiotics. The conclusions comprise a number of measures and recommendations with regards to antibiotic resistance, ranging from the national level strategies to ensure awareness among the public and health professionals to union level efforts to promote public-private partnerships to facilitate research into new antibiotics, diagnostic methods and strategies for use of currently available antibiotics.
Read more....
Drug development lagging behind HCAIs
18 September, 2009
Drug development is lagging well behind the growing problem of antibiotic resistance, a panel of European Union health agencies has warned.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the European Medicines Agency said that 25,000 people in the EU are killed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year, a phenomenon that costs 1.5 billion euros (£1.3 billion).
Read more....
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Bug resistant to antibiotics enters UK
By Jane Kirby, Press Association
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Health experts are warning that a new bug which is resistant to antibiotics has been brought into the UK by patients treated abroad.
The new strains of bacteria, called Enterobacteriaceae, have been identified in UK hospital patients, "a significant proportion of whom had received medical treatment abroad", according to the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
The HPA said that one strain - called NDM-1 (New Delhi Metallo-1) - is "swiftly emerging".
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News: Infections and the NHS |
The latest research shows that ethanol (alcohol) increases the virulence of some strains of a common hospital and community acquired infection. What will this mean for the ongoing use of alcohol sanitisers as an antibacterial?
Judy Wynne IPO 6 April 2010
Acinetobacter baumannii is a common pathogen whose recent resistance to drugs has emerged as a major health problem. Ethanol has been found to increase the virulence of A. baumannii in Dictyostelium discoideum and Caenorhabditis elegans models of infection.
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Government targets increase superbug risks, say NHS infection chiefs
Deadly superbugs have increased despite a crackdown on the best-known infections such as MRSA, a parliamentary report will warn this week.
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Published: 9:45PM GMT 07 Nov 2009
Around 300,000 infections are diagnosed in English hospitals every year Photo: MARTIN POPE
While rates of MRSA and Clostridium difficile are falling, after scandals over major outbreaks, other potentially fatal infections which receive less attention appear to be soaring, the Commons public accounts committee will say.
Around 300,000 infections are diagnosed in English hospitals every year – but many more potentially fatal bugs may be going undetected, because of a lack of surveillance, research has found.
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News: Proton Pump Inhibitors, Probiotics & Prebiotics |
Proton Pump Inhibitors Increase Significantly the Risk of Clostridium difficile Infection in a Low-Endemicity, Non-Outbreak Hospital Setting
Dalton BR, Lye-Maccannell T, Henderson EA, Maccannell DR, Louie TJ,
Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2009;29:626-634
Summary
Clostridium difficile is a highly prevalent cause of infectious diarrhea in the community and increasingly in hospitalized patients. The rate of C difficile infection has risen |
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dramatically, particularly in hospitalized patients in whom the disease incidence has been climbing at a rate of approximately 25% per year since 2000. Current estimates are that C difficile infection complicates 0.5% to 1.0% of all hospital admissions.[1] Because many hospitalized patients receive acid-suppressive therapy with proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs), several recent reports have suggested a possible causal relationship between PPI therapy and C difficile infection. The premise is that reduction of gastric acid secretion may allow an infectious agent, such as C difficile, to be ingested and perhaps survive a "first wall of host defense" -- the |
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acidic gastric pool. Reduced gastric acid might facilitate survival of these potentially noxious bacteria in the upper gastrointestinal tract, leading to disease-associated sequelae.
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News: Swine Flu |
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Ian Dalton's swine flu update - big drop in new cases, but deaths rise
7 December, 2009
In his weekly update for HSJ and Nursing Times, national director for NHS flu resilience Ian Dalton discusses the latest developments in UK swine flu preparations
What should NHS staff be focusing their efforts on?
This week has seen a substantial drop in the number of new swine flu cases in England to 22,000 as at 3rd December. While it is too early to know whether we have passed the peak of a second wave, this is positive news. However, there are still a high number of people in hospital and in critical care with the virus, particularly children under five. Sadly, the number of deaths continues to rise.
Read more....
Older Children in More Danger
Study finds most child swine flu deaths in older, school-age children
Older Children in More Danger
Study finds most child swine flu deaths in older, school-age children
Mike Stobbe, The Associated Press
October 1, 2009
About one in 13 U.S. swine flu deaths have been children and most of the kids have been of school age, the federal government said Thursday in its first study of the new flu's youngest victims. |
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More than 40 U.S. children have died from the virus since it was first identified in this country in April. The report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes a comprehensive look at the first 36 deaths, and found some important differences in the pediatric death toll from swine flu as compared to seasonal flu:
More than 40 U.S. children have died from the virus since it was first identified in this country in April. The report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention takes a comprehensive look at the first 36 deaths, and found some important differences in the pediatric death toll from swine flu as compared to seasonal flu:
-- Normally, half or more of the children who die from flu are age 4 and younger. But more than 80 percent of the kids who died with swine flu were 5 or older.
-- Almost two-thirds of the children who died with swine flu had epilepsy, cerebral palsy or other neurodevelopmental conditions.
In a previous flu season, only a third of pediatric deaths had those conditions.
-- Bacterial co-infections were a big danger, and were blamed in most of the deaths of otherwise healthy children. Co-infections usually occur when a patient, weakened by a virus, then gets hit by a bacterial bug.
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Swine flu four times as likely to hospitalise pregnant women
30 July, 2009
Pregnant women could be at extra risk of serious complications from swine flu after research showed they were fours times as likely to need hospital treatment than members of the general population with the virus
Read more....
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