First emerging at the beginning of the '60s, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus as a nosocomial infection - healthcare associated MRSA (haMRSA) - has become an increasingly prevalent infection control problem in many countries.
Researcher have found that overcrowding and understaffing in hospitals lead to a failure of MRSA control programmes, which in turn results in increased inpatient hospital stay, bed blocking and further infection control failure.
According to recent survey by the Leapfrog Group 87% of hospitals fail to adhere infection prevention measures on a consistent basis. In the Wall Street Journal, Betsy McCaughey, chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Death, warns against the next wave of lawsuits.
Hospital infections are immensely dangerous. Toul Meditech has therefore developed a new mobile laminar airflow system which can be used in every operating room in addition to the existing ventilation system.
They are one of the major threats in today's hospital: tiny pathogens that hide out in catheters, in ventilation tubes, on instruments or on the keyboards of medical technological equipment only waiting to attack patients whose immune system is already weakened. This week, EH Online will take a closer look at nosocomial infections, their causes, their effects and the available ways and means to…
A new paper by Shahriar Mobashery, Navari Family Professor in Life Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, and researchers in his lab provides important insights into promising new antibiotics aimed at combating MRSA.
In any hospital, one of the most dreaded enemies is MRSA. This super-resistant pathogen laughs in the face of most antibiotics. But now, medical and hygiene product manufacturer Lohmann & Rauscher may have developed an efficient weapon to fight this ugly beast: a wound dressing that contains polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB).
Report: Mark Nicholls
Along with MRSA and ESBL bacteria, Clostridium difficile is causing a growing problem. Epidemics of a new C. difficile strain have already occurred in hospitals in North America, England and the Benelux countries.
Arlington Medical Resources (AMR), a pharmaceutical market research firm, found that the number of patients treated with an antibiotic associated with MRSA-infections within U.S. acute care hospitals has increased 8 percent by the last year. But the average time MRSA-patients had to stay in hospital decreased by 10 percent.
The NHS is still suffering from wide variations in infection control standards, according to a survey of health staff in the UK. The study carried out by the watchdog body the Healthcare Commission, after questioning more than 155,000 NHS staff, indicated that there had been improvements in infection control in several areas.
The project “Clean Hands” is Germany's contribution to the WHO initiative “Clean care is safe care”. “Clean Hands” aims at improving hand hygiene in German hospitals in order to significantly reduce nosocomial infections.
UK - Results from a National Health Service (NHS) trial, which investigated the effectiveness of silver at reducing levels of bacteria in an actual hospital setting, have been announced by BioCote Ltd, manufacturer of antimicrobial products.
Gama Healthcare has developed an advanced innovative wipe — Clinell Sporicidal — which, the company reports, is the world's first peracetic acid generating wipe specifically designed to deal with spores.
GAMA Healthcare has developed an advanced innovative wipe called Clinell Sporicidal: This is the world's first peracetic acid generating wipe which has been specifically designed to deal with spores. This technologically advanced wipe was developed by a team of medical doctors and contains patent pending technology designed around the stability of the peracetic acid.
Along with advanced training courses, a training laboratory, video presentations, careers advice, satellite symposia to simplify the collation of clinical data, the forum will present a platform for young scientists.
The methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is one of the most common causes of life threatening infections among hospital patients. What makes the bacterium that dangerous is the fact, that due to unspecific symptoms and long lasting testing procedures its detection takes too long. A new test that delivers results in just five hours now offers the possibility of a MRSA screening for…
Every day, patients are admitted to surgeries, hospitals and outpatient clinics with chronic wounds. Careful inspection gives a wound therapist clues to the appropriate primary care required even before further diagnostic procedures are carried out. So what do the clinical signs and symptoms tell us? Report: Heidi Heinold
UK - According to new figures obtained from death certificates by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) deaths involving Clostridium difficile rose by 69% to 3,800 in the 2004-05 period, whilst MRSA increased by 39% to 1,629. (In two hospitals in one city, C. difficile was linked to the deaths of 12 patients in just four weeks and, in another city, in one eight-month period, at least 49 people…
Nosocomial infections are all too common in our hospitals. For example, in Germany alone (according to the German Company for Hospital Hygiene - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene), each year 40,000 patients contract bacterial infections, some fatal.
As MRSA affects about 300,000 patients and costs UK £1 billion annually, the country's public services union demands the return of in-house cleaners. Report: Peter Howieson
UK - Although the Department of Health (DoH) demanded a 50% reduction in MRSA cases in hospitals by 2008, a report at the end of 2005 suggested that some hospitals were making poor progress towards this goal.