'08 in review: New hospital on horizon helps Mercy's outlook - Local - Merced Sun-Star.
Throughout the United States, MRSA, or Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, is a difficult-to-treat infection in humans. Many people who get it end up dying from it. In Merced, MRSA was showing up more and more in hospital patients, so Mercy's infection control experts put new regulations into effect to stop the infection before it got started. Mars Leffard, the critical care director for Mercy, said the No. 1 way to stop the MRSA bug is to wash hands. "We have added 40 to 50 more hand sanitizers throughout the hospital," Leffard said. In addition, every patient admitted to either the critical care unit or the intensive care unit is tested for MRSA. Patients can harbor the disease with no symptoms, Leffard said, but they can still shed the virus to others. Plus a compromised immune system can knock down a person's resistance to the nasty bug. Although staff and patients are urged to keep their hands clean, hospital visitors aren't immune. "If you visit here, you are going to wash your hands," Leffard said.
