Germ box highlights problem

Leeds Today
This 'glow box' shows just how much bacteria can be left on your hands, even after washing. It is being used by North Kirklees Primary Care Trust (PCT) to highlight the importance of hand hygiene as a first step to preventing infections. Staff and patients will be invited to use the box to reveal how clean their hands are as part of the national Infection Control Week campaign being held all this week.
Ministers have made the fight against infection in hospitals a priority for the NHS. Latest figures show nearly 800 cases of MRSA in Yorkshire in 2003-04 – a 19pc increase on the previous year and one of the fastest growth rates in the country. The highest risk in the region was in hospitals in Leeds, where 204 people – about one in every 1,000 in-patients – were infected, compared with 161 the year before. Overall, 842 patients in the city were hit by hospital infections and a total of 72 wards were closed for a period of time due to infections in the 12 months to April.