Let us keep you informed via our e mail news update. Click here for more information. Check the latest news now at our headline page. Discuss MRSA using the comments link at foot of stories). Discover our MRSA Watch book of the month - Visit our bookstore. We have 2,800+ stories - see list below or categories in side columns.
Link: Examiner.
MORTALITY rates in Irish hospitals from the superbug, Clostridium Difficile, are higher than those from MRSA, the chief executive of the Health Services Executive revealed yesterday. Professor Brendan Drumm told an Oireachtas Committee that the bacterial organism is more fatal than MRSA in hospitals. Infections most often occur in hospitals and it is mostly developed by patients who have recently taken antibiotics. It results in diarrhoea, can be spread directly from patient to patient, and can be fatal, particularly in elderly patients. Professor Drumm yesterday said that it was a bigger killer than MRSA.
Link: Dept, HSE slammed on hospital hygiene.
The Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children has expressed concern that not enough is being done on hospital hygiene and the control of hospital acquired infection in Ireland. The Committee was told today that the Department of Health gave no specific funding to the HSE this year for improving hospital hygiene and controlling infection. Members of the Committee demanded that key staff in hospitals be made responsible and properly accountable for hygiene control, and if not, said they should be dismissed. Key experts in the HSE and the Department of Health appeared before the Committee to update members on what is being done to improve hygiene and control infection. However, after hearing updates from the experts, Committee Chairman Deputy John Moloney said until the public can be assured that people are in charge of and responsible for maintaining hygiene standards in each unit, experts coming before the Committee will not give the public confidence that hygiene standards are improving.
Link: Irish Medical News.
Doctors have been urged to make as much information as possible available to hospital ambulance staff prior to handing over patients for transport. Mr Philip Lane, Manager of the National Ambulance Service, said it was vital that ambulance personnel knew the full details of patients’ medical status, particularly if they had MRSA or another hospital acquired infection, prior to handover to ensure their correct care and to prevent cross infection. “We must work together and develop a multidisciplinary approach to dealing with patients through their hospital and ambulance journeys,” said Mr Lane, during his presentation at the national Clean Hospitals Summit last week. Mr Lane explained the implications of the recent national hospital hygiene audit on the national ambulance service and detailed how the service was implementing the recommendations of the audit report.
Link: RTE News
The Irish Medical Organisation has described plans for an audit of hygiene in hospitals as a waste of public money and resources. The plans have been announced by the Health Service Executive. A previous audit found that 91% of hospitals were failing to meet acceptable hygiene standards. Vice President of the IMO, Dr Christine O'Malley, told RT� Radio's Morning Ireland that it is her personal view that any imminent check would come too soon after the last audit, which was published in November. However, the Chairman of the Irish Patients' Association, Stephen McMahon, said he would welcome a check considering the high rate of MRSA.
Link: IOL: Harney: Hospital hygiene standards unacceptable.
The Tnaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has described hygiene standards in Irish hospitals as unacceptable.
Ms Harney was speaking at a conference on hospital hygiene in Dublin today arranged by the Irish Patients' Association.
She said it was incumbent on every hospital to ensure that cleanliness is improved, particularly in relation to hand-washing, which is regarded as vital to tackling the spread of illnesses like MRSA.
Ms Harney also suggested that hospitals should consider restricting visiting hours in an effort to improve hygiene.
A recent audit found that just 9% of Irish hospitals meet basis standards of cleanliness and hygiene, with the other 91% falling short of the mark.
Link: eircom net
The MRSA superbug does not present a problem for the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin, its master Dr Michael Geary said yesterday after it was given a top quality award.
The oldest maternity hospital in the English speaking world became the first in Ireland to be accredited by the Irish Health Services Accreditation Board.
He said the hospital has stringent infection practices - one of the areas in which it was judged.
"Every single thing we do from the time a mother or a member of her family walks through our front door was evaluated," he said. "Under each and every heading, we can assure people we operate to the highest levels of international best practice.
Link: Irish Times Article
New strains of MRSA have been identified in the Republic that have not been found anywhere else in the world. The strains were identified during a retrospective study of MRSA isolates recovered in Irish hospitals between 1971 and 2002. Prof David Coleman, head of the biosciences division of the school of dental science at Trinity College Dublin, said yesterday the research found there had been several different strains of MRSA present among Irish patients over the past three decades. "The main finding was that we've had waves of invaders over the last three decades. "There has not been a single MRSA strain, there have been many and the population is continuing to change so we are actually importing MRSA from abroad and we are exporting it, and there are new ones developing here that nobody else has seen." He suspects the reason certain MRSA strains were found in the Republic and not elsewhere was "people had not done such detailed analysis" elsewhere. This was the most comprehensive study on MRSA isolates ever to be undertaken in Ireland.
Link: Sunday Post.
“MRSA is all about DNA, not bacteria,” said O'Byrne. “We hear that hospital-associated infections have escalated in recent years. They have not. Most of the infections that occur in hospitals arise from organisms present in our own body. That point is not often got across to the general public. “We hear that all infections are preventable. They are not. “We are told that MRSA is the sole problem or that it's a killer bug - it is not,” said O'Byrne. “It is not the case that MRSA cannot be treated; it can be with certain antibiotics. “MRSA is widespread outside hospitals, and is carried by a great many people in the community who will be unaware they are colonised and for whom it will pose no danger.” MRSA occurs when an organism on all skin types mutates due to the overuse of antibiotics. The danger of contracting MRSA is heightened by sick patients and crowded environments, said O'Byrne. MRSA often infects surgical wounds, and has been encouraged by the increasing complexity and invasiveness of hospital treatment. O'Byrne described the structure of the Irish healthcare system as “a potential microbial threat'‘. “People are sick and immuno-suppressed. Elective surgery patients need to be kept well away from other patients. “It's as simple as that,” he said.
Link: RTE News
Seven people have died from the MRSA superbug in the past 10 days, according to a support group for families affected by the organism. Speaking on RT�'s Morning Ireland, the founder of MRSA & Families, Margaret Dawson, claimed that the seven died in various hospitals around the country. Dr Kevin Kelleher, Director of Public Health with the Health Service Executive, said he would not be able to comment on the seven cases. Advertisement Dr Kelleher said that the HSE has taken large steps in improving hygiene in hospitals in recent times but that there is no quick fix solution to the problem.
Link: Examiner.
ALMOST half of Irish hospitals are without key personnel central to the detection of the potentially fatal MRSA superbug. In addition, around 10 hospitals have no infection control nurses, according to Dr Robert Cunney, consultant microbiologist with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. Contrary to the general public's perception, Dr Cunney also said physical hygiene in hospitals is "not a major factor" in the spread of the superbug - but "if a hospital is clean, it usually indicates other things are going well".
Link: The Nationalist News
The South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel was given a 'fair' rating while Our Lady's Hospital in Cashel was given a 'poor' rating. Just five hospitals around the country were found to have a level of hygiene categorised as 'good' with Waterford Regional Hospital sharing bottom place out of all fifty-four public acute hospitals inspected during the Summer. The first national hygiene audit shows widespread neglect of basic hygiene practices like hand washing, bin emptying and general cleaning in the country's hospitals. The first name and shame exercise was carried out amid growing concerns about MRSA and other superbugs in hospitals. The South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel received an overall score of 80%, falling just short of the top category of 'good' which required a score of 84% or over which was achieved by only five hospitals.
Link: www.limerickpost.ie
DESPITE the growing incidence of MRSA and other "superbugs,” hygiene in the surgical wards of the Mid Western Regional Hospital were this week damned as the worst in the country. Ordered by Tanaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, the first hygiene audit of 54 acute hospitals, revealed that the overall cleanliness at Limerick's main hospital was "poor,” and it was categorised as the eighth dirtiest hospital in Ireland. Rated as having the most unhygienic surgical wards in the country, the Mid Western Regional Hospital facility received only 53 per cent. The intensive care units at the Dooradoyle hospital were rated as Ireland's second worst, with an average score of 65 per cent. Other areas of the hospital also fared poorly with the medical wards classified as seventh lowest of the country's hospitals while the outpatient departments are reported to be fifth lowest of all hospitals.
Link: Waterford News & Star
MANY of the concerns highlighted last week about standards of hygiene at Waterford Regional Hospital existed two years ago, it was claimed yesterday. Walter Cullen, Regional Industrial Organiser with the ATGWU, said that as far back as early 2004 cleaners and janitors complained of a lack of equipment to adequately do their jobs. They further complained that while they worked almost as an integrate section of the medical care ethic of the hospital, they had no identifiable ownership of their essential role in the process. “In an era where the superbug was a real live daily threat, I found it hardly credible that the South Eastern Health Board did not seem to bother with adequate funding for career development or ongoing training modules as an essential feature of the contracts awarded for a vital public service,” he said.
Link: Waterford News & Star
The fears of up to 200 delegates at a Waterford conference, organised by the MRSA and Families Support Group, were heightened last Saturday following the publication of a national hospital hygiene audit which placed Waterford Regional Hospital, Beaumont, Dublin and St. Columcille’s hospital, Loughlinstown, bottom of the league for cleanliness. As the dust settles on the damning report, Dr. Ronan Fawsitt, a professor of the Irish College of General Practitioners, called for a coherent hygiene strategy fully backed by the medical profession and policed by an agency with power to impose sanctions on individuals and hospitals who failed to comply with standards. It was a disgrace, he said, that no serious national effort was being made to protect the thousands of people who contracted MRSA every year.
Link: Waterford News & Star
AN abysmal rating in the first ever hygiene audit published by the Department of Health confirms the suspicions of MRSA superbug victims that their sickness is directly linked to poor standards in all areas of Waterford Regional Hospital. While cleaning up its act is now the top priority for hospital management, medical professionals and workers at all levels, a greater use of soap and water in the future is not the only concern of those who find themselves directly responsible for hygiene issues. Disgruntled former WRH patients, who spoke to the Waterford News & Star, have indicated that they will consider taking legal action in respect of MRSA and other infections they claim they contracted following relatively minor operations up to ten years ago. Among them is Eve- Marie English from Larchville, who claims she caught MRSA while recovering from an appendix operation in January 1995. Her wound has never healed, it seeps puss and constantly smells. “I was due to be married but the relationship fell through because my boyfriend couldn’t handle it. Out of all the friends I have had, I have only one left due to this,” she said.
Link: Evening Echo: News.
Relatives of people who have died after contracting MRSA have slammed their treatment by the Department of Health. A delegation of people affected by the antibiotic-resistant 'superbug' made a submission to the Oireachtas health committee today about their experiences. Spokesperson Margaret Dawson told the committee that these people were "being left to suffer without any support, adequate information or proper guidelines from this Government". The Oireachtas health committee is currently examining measures that can be taken to prevent the spread of MRSA within hospitals and care homes. A hygiene audit published last week highlighted serious deficiencies in cleanliness at several major Irish hospitals. Regular hand-washing and impeccable hygiene standards are widely regarded as the best way to combat the spread of MRSA and other similar illnesses. A professor at the Irish College of General Practitioners told the committee today that the Government should also make it mandatory for all MRSA cases to be reported to a statutory authority.
Link: Evening Echo: News.
MRSA victims and their families will today help the Oireachtas Health Committee draw up guidelines to combat the hospital superbug. Last week’s first-ever audit of hygiene in Ireland’s national acute hospitals found that almost half of them had poor hygiene. There were 315 reported cases of MRSA infections in the first six months of this year but the number of MRSA-related deaths are not officially recorded by the health services. Health Committee chairman John Moloney said he would be listening closely to the victims’ experiences and concerns and reporting back to Minister for Health Mary Harney. “Clean hospitals are essential for public confidence and for infection control,” he said. “Patients deserve no less than top-class cleanliness in every area of each hospital. The experiences of those who have suffered from the hospital superbug and their families will be invaluable in highlighting best practice to tackle MRSA.” The Government TD said there was no single solution to driving down infections and that a whole package of measures was needed to combat the superbug.
Link: IOL
THE country’s dirtiest hospitals are laid bare in a damning report that shows widespread neglect of basic hygiene practices like hand-washing, bin-emptying and general cleaning. Waterford Regional Hospital shares bottom place with Dublin hospitals Beaumont and St Columcille’s, Loughlinstown, in the first National Hospitals Hygiene Audit, which found a shocking 91% of public hospitals fall below acceptable standards of cleanliness. Despite the growing incidence of MRSA and other “superbugs”, just five hospitals are found to have a level of hygiene categorised as “good.” T�naiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney described the findings as “very disappointing” and said it was “extraordinary” that top hospitals ignored basic precautions like hand washing. “There has to be a change in attitude,” she said. Hospitals which fail to clean up their act before the next two audits, to be carried out in the new year, could face paying for their inaction through caps on their annual budgets.
Link: Examiner.
THE country’s dirtiest hospitals are laid bare in a damning report that shows widespread neglect of basic hygiene practices like hand-washing, bin-emptying and general cleaning. Waterford Regional Hospital shares bottom place with Dublin hospitals Beaumont and St Columcille’s, Loughlinstown, in the first National Hospitals Hygiene Audit, which found a shocking 91% of public hospitals fall below acceptable standards of cleanliness. Despite the growing incidence of MRSA and other “superbugs”, just five hospitals are found to have a level of hygiene categorised as “good.” T�naiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney described the findings as “very disappointing” and said it was “extraordinary” that top hospitals ignored basic precautions like hand washing. “There has to be a change in attitude,” she said.
IT WAS hard to know whether to be heartened or horrified by the gathering of health professionals that took place one early morning in mid-September this year. The theme of their meeting hospital hygiene was worthy. The timing of the gathering when fears about MRSA and the other superbugs plaguing hospital patients were running high was appropriate. But the conclusion that people working, receiving treatment or visiting hospitals should wash their hands was alarming. The idea that highly trained medical professionals would be doing their ward rounds with dirty hands was akin to hearing that airline pilots never had their eyes tested. The notion that patients would not have adequate facilities to wash their hands was just as unsettling. The thought that visitors popping in to see a loved one would not be reminded to visit a sink before approaching a bedside was downright depressing.
Link: Evening Echo: News.
The Irish Nurses Organisation has claimed that hospital overcrowding is the main cause of the spread of so-called superbugs in Irish hospitals. An audit due out tomorrow is expected to highlight overcrowding as one of the main reasons why viruses like MRSA exist in the health system. Speaking ahead of the audit's publication, INO spokesman Liam Doran, said overcrowding was leading to a situation where staff were too busy to wash their hands as frequently as they should. "Every standard drops when you have an overcrowded hospital," he said.
Link: Evening Echo: News.
Health experts have said the number of reported MRSA infections is set to reach record levels this year. But, the experts say this increase could be caused by a greater awareness of the superbug and may not mean that the infection is actually spreading. Some 314 cases were reported in the first six months of this year, compared with 337 for the whole of 2001.
Link: Irish Times Article
Health authorities had previously indicated the total number of MRSA bloodstream infections for 2004 was about 500 but details of how many infections were found in each hospital were not published. The figures obtained by The Irish Times reveal that the highest numbers of MRSA bloodstream infections were in large hospitals such as Dublin's Mater, which had 77 patients with MRSA bloodstream infections and St James's Hospital, which had 65 cases. High numbers of MRSA bloodstream infections were also found at Galway's University College Hospital and Merlin Park Regional Hospital. The Health Service Executive (HSE) Western Area stressed it could not be assumed hospitals with higher numbers of cases have the biggest problem. "It may simply be that they try harder to detect and document the scale of the problem and that they have more very sick people admitted," it said.
Link: ::: u.tv :::.
It is reported that some 6,000 patients were infected by the MRSA superbug in Irish hospitals last year. A further 2,000 tested positive for a range of other potentially fatal infections. The figures have been released under the Freedom of Information Act. Patients` groups are criticising the reluctance of some hospitals to release details of the number of people who pick up infections while they are treating them. Dublin`s Beaumont Hospital refused to release details of infections, saying it would give a "seriously misleading picture" which could prejudice testing and staff management.
Link: 'Reforms will help fight MRSA'.
New unified administrative health structures, which have finally been put into place this week, will assist in combating MRSA in hospitals and will help ensure higher standards in nursing homes, according to the Health Service Executive. The health service is now operating on a truly national and unified basis, according to the HSE. It says this will allow it to deliver healthcare services comprehensively and on an equal footing regardless of geographic location. Yesterday marked the full and final transition from the former structure of 11 health boards to a single, unified national service.
Link: MRSA - not enough being done.
The vast majority of people believe that not enough is being done to tackle the spread of MRSA in Irish hospitals, according to the results of a new poll by irishhealth.com. MRSA, also known as the hospital super bug, is a strain of bacteria that is resistant to some of the most powerful antibiotics available. It thrives in hospitals where people are in close proximity and may have their defences weakened by illness. A recent survey by the Irish Patients Association revealed that in 2003, Ireland recorded the highest number of MRSA cases in Europe.
Link: Examiner.
IRELAND has no national strategy to tackle the deadly MRSA hospital bug even though we have the second highest incidence of infections in Europe. Department of Health hygiene guidelines were produced in 1995 on the management of the flesh-eating bug but it was left up to individual hospitals on how they should be implemented. A new patients’ campaign group wants the Tnaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney to establish tough procedures to reduce the number of MRSA cases and for hospitals to provide more information on the superbug.
Link: Examiner.
CLARE TD James Breen, recovering from the life-threatening MRSA bug, said yesterday he was aggrieved Health Minister Mary Harney had not investigated increasing concerns about the prevalence of the so-called superbug in Irish hospitals. “I nearly lost my life because of the MRSA superbug,” he said. “When will the issue be tackled?” Nearly 15 months after he was infected from a routine injection, Mr Breen is battling to regain full strength in his right arm. “I was in the best of health before it but consultants have now told me the best I can hope for is 60% use of my arm,” he said.
Link: Post.
The revelation comes two weeks after it emerged that the number of Irish MRSA cases had been under-reported for years because laboratories were allowed to opt out of the MRSA reporting scheme. But Pat McLoughlin, the director of the National Hospitals Office (NHO), said that the HSE planned to start compiling figures for each hospital soon. “Work is being carried out to determine what information should be compiled and published,” he said. He said the results of the forthcoming national hygiene audit would be published but that the process was not about shaming poorly performing hospitals.
Link: IOL: Group plans to lobby minister over superbug.
A new support group has been set up to raise awareness about the MRSA bug. “MRSA and Families” is vowing to lift the veil of silence surrounding what it says is a superbug crisis Irish in hospitals. They say they are going to lobby the Health Minister over the spread of deadly infections in the country's wards.
Link: eircom net
A NATIONAL audit of hygiene in Irish hospitals has been commissioned by the Health Services Executive to stem the spread of hospital super bugs such as MRSA. The audit, to be conducted by external consults in June and July, will test the hygiene standards in Irish hospitals. It follows a drive launched by the Tanaiste in December urging health care workers to wash their hands more often to help prevent the spread of infection in hospitals. The audit comes after a patients lobby group, Patients Together, highlighted the case of an elderly cancer sufferer who was treated as a day patient in a busy day care ward even though he had contracted the infectious hospital super bug, MRSA.
Link: Nabi Biopharmaceuticals.
In Ireland alone, about 10,000 patients contract S. aureus infections, including methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), each year. Most carry the bacteria without coming to any harm, but approximately 3,000 patients develop the more serious and potentially lethal MRSA infection, and last year an estimated 240 people died from the most severe strain of this superbug.
Link: How safe are you in an Irish hospital? - National Miscellaneous - Indymedia Ireland.
Irish hospitals are no longer safe places in which to be ill. Incidence rates for infection by the superbug MRSA are at an all time high and preventive measures are proving ineffectual. While media attention has been focused recently on overcrowding in the Accident and Emergency Departments in Irish hospitals a much more serious issue is getting little attention. It is difficult enough to get into an Irish hospital, but what happens when you are in there can be particularly bad for your health. Irish hospitals are currently being stalked by a number of superbugs, any one of which can make you extremely ill, or even kill you. 41.7% are MRSA
Link: Indymedia Ireland.
One of these, MRSA (methecillin resistant staphylococcus aureus), has become a very serious problem in Irish hospitals. This bacterium, which can live harmlessly on the skin or in the nose, is no threat to a healthy person. However, a patient who has undergone extensive surgery or whose immune system is weakened because they are very old or disabled can, if infected, become seriously ill. The bad news is that less than a handful of effective antibiotics are available to treat MRSA infection, and the there is a real fear that even these will shortly begin to fail. Irish hospitals have one of the highest incidence rates of the most serious form of MRSA infection. In answer to a Dail question on 7 April 2004 the then Minister for Health and Children, Mr Michael Martin, revealed that 41.7 per cent of bacteraemia, or blood borne infections, in Irish hospitals were attributable to MRSA. This places us just behind Britain which, at 44 percent, has the highest rate in Western Europe. The Nordic countries have, by comparison, a rate of around one per cent.
Link: Waterford News & Star
THE Tramore woman whose late husband acquired the superbug MRSA while undergoing treatment for cancer at Waterford Regional Hospital, has vowed that she will not rest until she is satisfied that cleanliness standards have improved at the hospital. Teresa Graham is not laying any blame on the hospital for the death of her husband Graham on October 24, but she claims that prior to his death he suffered unnecessary pain and suffering having picked up the Superbug. She has already written to the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, complaining about a basic lack of hygiene at the hospital between the time her husband was admitted on August 18 and the time of his death on October 24.
Link: Times Online - Sunday Times.
Last year 10,000 people contracted a superbug in Irish hospitals. Nearly 250 of them died. Dearbhail McDonald investigates why the medical authorities are refusing to disclose rates of infection of what could be the biggest threat to the nation's health Earlier this year, Dermot Graham, a father of two, was admitted to Waterford Regional hospital for treatment. During his 10-week stay he acquired the superbug MRSA and never returned home. His widow Teresa blames a basic lack of hygiene for the hospital-acquired, antibiotic-resistant infection, which is endemic in Irish hospitals.
Link: ::: u.tv :::.
The Mid Western Health Board has issued a statement calling for the organisation of validated data to give a comprehensive picture of the MRSA bug on a national level. No related movie clips for this story.No related movie clips for this story. It`s hoped that such data will help to calm the fears on the spread of the so called superbug. The statement has been issued in light of the Primetime Investigates programme which aired on RTE last night. The documentary claimed that up to 10,000 patients may be picking up the superbug in hospitals nationwide every year. While most people who contract MRSA are not affected the programme suggested that around 3,000 patients may have subsequently developed an infection.
Link: Sunday Post .
More than 30 people who contracted the MRSA superbug in public hospitals have approached Limerick solicitor John Devane in the past week about suing the state for negligence. Devane, who represented a large number of soldiers in army deafness cases, said he would meet the claimants before Christmas and begin filing cases in the High Court early next year. He added that he expected to receive calls from more MRSA sufferers in the coming weeks. “The health boards have been negligent in their duty of care to patients,’' Devane said. “You go to hospital to get better, not to get MRSA. This is a massive issue and I think we have very strong legal grounds.” Last week, The Sunday Business Post revealed that Devane himself was taking High Court proceedings against the Minister for Health Mary Harney, the Health Board Executive and a Limerick hospital, after he contracted MRSA five years ago.
Link: RTE News
The Minister for Health has admitted that her department has no statistics on the number of people who have died as a result of infection by MRSA, the so-called superbug. However, Mary Harney told the Dail today that she had been strongly advised by medical experts that in the majority of cases the cause of death was the underlying illness which led to hospital admission in the first place. Ms Harney also said she found it 'quite extraordinary' that the main cause of the spread of the disease was 'hand hygiene', or medical staff failing to wash their hands.
Link: RTE News
The Irish Patients' Association has expressed alarm at the degree to which the superbug, MRSA, has become prevalent in hospitals. The association said there is an onus on hospitals to reassure patients being admitted for treatment that the facilities were clean and good hygiene practices were being followed.The association's chairman, Stephen McMahon, said the hospitals with the biggest problem had to be identified. He was responding to a new report which found that the antibiotic-resistant superbug is prevalent in most hospitals in Ireland and has also been detected in nursing homes.
Belfast Telegraph
A lethal superbug has forced a hospital unit to close its doors to patients. An isolation room is being used to prevent any further spread of the antibiotic resistant infection VRE, or Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus. Bugs of this sort are blamed for causing hundreds of deaths in Britain, where it is estimated that one-in-ten patients picks up an infection on the wards.
A short introduction from Dave Roberts
This 12 minute introduction will help you grasp the key facts and the key issues surrounding drug resistant staph aureus (mersa, mursa)
