MRSA Infection

New hygiene scheme for Nevill Hall

New hygiene scheme for Nevill hall (From South Wales Argus).

INFECTION control nurses in Gwent are set to bring an award-winning hand hygiene project to the area's second biggest hospital, after a successful introduction at the Royal Gwent. Staff on 27 wards at the Newport hospital are now taking part in the scheme, which includes intensive weekly hand hygiene monitoring, and collegues at Abergavenny's Nevill Hall Hospital will get involved early next year. Staff on three wards at St Woolos Hospital, also in Newport, and on one ward at Caerphilly District Miners' Hospital, have been auditing their compliance too. The aim is to achieve and maintain 95 per cent hand hygiene compliance, minimising the occasions on which such measures are not observed, and instilling such measures as a habit performed without even thinking about it.

Hospital superbug cases on the rise in East Anglia

Hospital superbug cases on the rise - Fenland Today.

Cases of MRSA infections have been rising in East Anglia, bucking the national trend, new figures have shown. Data from the Health Protection Agency shows MRSA cases fell 13% nationally between July and September, with 725 cases. However, over the same period in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, the number of cases rose 35% to 27.

Superbug ‘condom’ may prevent spread of drug resistance | Entertainment and Showbiz!

Superbug ‘condom’ may prevent spread of drug resistance

Researchers Erik Sontheimer and Luciano Marraffini claim to have found a ‘molecular condom’ that inhibits disease-causing bacteria from spreading genes that lead to antibiotic resistance. They have identified a gene sequence, called CRISPR that protects bacteria against the transmission of harmful genes by attacking invading DNA. The defence also stops bacteria from sopping up DNA in the environment, another common route to antibiotic resistance. Sontheimer said that CRISPR interference works a little like RNA interference - a trick that complex eukaryotic cells use to block viruses and parasitic DNA stretches called transposons. “There’s still a lot that we don’t know about all this,” New Scientist quoted him as saying.

Infection control boss hailed by hospital

Infection control boss hailed by hospital (From St Albans & Harpenden Review).

A KEY manager who has helped beat MRSA and other lethal bugs has been namedEmployee of the Year by the trust which runs St Albans City and Watford General hospitals. Deputy director of infection control Frances Stratford won the accolade in the annual award scheme of the West Herts Hospitals Trust. Trust chairman Thomas Hanahoe said: "Staff and volunteers of the trust are the heartbeat of the organization and it is important that we recognise and celebrate their achievements. Every year we see a wide range of nominations, which have been submitted by our patients and staff, to recognise and celebrate the excellent work of both individuals and teams working in our hospitals.”

Mother questions son's MRSA related death

Mother questions son's death.

An Albuquerque woman is upset after her son died after being released from jail, saying he didn't receive the antibiotics he needed for a MRSA infection. A bag of her son's belongings was all that Cecilia Tkach was given after she found out her son died on Christmas day whiled staying at La Posada, a halfway house in Albuquerque. She said that he shouldn't have died the way he did, and she's still looking for answers. For days Cecelia Tkach has been trying to find her son after she found out he passed way.

Highly resistant bacteria common in ER workers

Highly resistant bacteria common in ER workers - Yahoo! News.

Lovell and colleagues collected nasal swabs from a sample of 105 emergency department staff at their institution. Sixteen subjects (15 percent) tested positive for MRSA, including 12 nurses, 2 physicians, and 2 technicians. The MRSA positivity rates in our emergency department health care workers is "much higher than that found in the general US population, but is similar to rates seen in other studies of non-ED medical personnel," Dr. Lovell said.