MRSA, Staph, Staff, Mersa, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus Symptoms & Treatment

Teenage student dies from MRSA

Link: Teenage student Sam Fallon has died after being struck down with MRSA in hospital. The 17-year-old died nine days after contracting the superbug at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.She....

Teenage student Sam Fallon has died after being struck down with MRSA in hospital. The 17-year-old died nine days after contracting the superbug at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire. She had spent a month in hospital fighting a rare immune disease affecting blood cells before catching MRSA and dying on Friday. Now Sam's family are taking legal action against the hospital after blaming MRSA for her death. Mum Sue, aged 42, of Campbell Road, Stoke, said: "I can only describe the wards Sam was on for the first two weeks before she was diagnosed as filthy. I washed her every day, there was a big sticky patch on the floor which never moved and dust and dirt everywhere - it just looked grubby.

'My wife is pregnant but she won't go to germ hospital

Link: 'My wife is pregnant but she won't go there' - Times Online.

Patients and visitors at Ealing Hospital, West London, spoke yesterday of the hospital’s “dirty, ghastly” reputation, which contributed to it achieving the worst score for overall care in the hospital league tables. Those who had received treatment yesterday could not fault the care they received from doctors and nurses. But most patients expressed no surprise that it rated among the worst-performing trusts on more than half of the issues in the Healthcare Commission’s national inpatient survey. Many said they would not wish friends or relatives to be treated at the 358-bed district hospital, which covers a catchment area of 300,000 patients from the middle-class suburbs of Ealing Broadway to the large South Asian population of Southall.

Pacemaker baby battling MRSA

Link: Channel 4 - News - Pacemaker baby battling MRSA.

One of the youngest babies to ever have a pacemaker fitted is facing another battle after contracting the MRSA superbug, his father said. Liam King had the device fitted to regulate the beating of his heart when he was just five-days-old, after his parents were told he would not survive without it. But his father Andy King said that Liam, now ten-weeks-old, was fighting for his life again after the bug infected his pacemaker wound. The baby's mother, Ann Collier, is at his bedside in Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.

4 Trusts warned over MRSA

Link: FTs and MRSA.

Monitor has warned four foundation trusts it will intervene if they fail to improve performance on MRSA. Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals, Calderdale and Huddersfield, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals and Poole Hospital were told they had breached their terms of authorisation.

MRSA patient left in own blood

Link: MRSA patient left in own blood - family - Yorkshire Evening Post.

AN ELDERLY patient contracted the MRSA bug and almost died after being left to lie in his own blood on a filthy hospital ward, his family claim. Retired miner Jim McManus, 70, was admitted to Pinderfields in Wakefield for a routine leg operation in February but fell victim to the deadly bug as a result of the 'disgraceful' state of the ward, they say. Mr McManus's daughter, Monique Dawson, f ADVERTISEMENT rom Temple Newsam, Leeds, said she even brought her own disinfectant on to the ward to clean around his bed because she was so worried about hygiene standards. She said she regularly visited her father to find him in tears because he had been left to lie in the blood weeping from an open sore on his leg. The former Glasshoughton colliery worker was told he would be kept in hospital for three nights for a bypass operation on an artery in his leg. Although the surgery went smoothly, he was kept in after his scars failed to heal properly and he was eventually told he had contracted MRSA. His family are now considering legal action against Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust over the standard of care he was given.

How one hosital halved its MRSA rate

Link: Topical Questions: 6 May 2008: House of Commons debates (TheyWorkForYou.com).

Philip Hollobone (Kettering, Conservative) Link to this | Hansard source Having had the worst hospital-acquired infection rates in the whole country in 2006, Kettering general hospital has now halved its rates of infection for C. difficile and MRSA, and met all its major NHS targets this year. In congratulating all those who work at the hospital on this tremendous achievement, will the Secretary of State encourage the strategic health authority to look favourably on Kettering general hospital's application for foundation trust status, which is due to be submitted shortly? Add your comment Photo of Alan JohnsonAlan Johnson (Secretary of State, Department of Health; Kingston upon Hull West & Hessle, Labour) Link to this | Hansard source I think that the hon. Members for Kettering (Mr. Hollobone) and for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) should go and have a cup of tea together and compare notes, because we are getting a different picture of what is happening in the health service in their area from each of them. The hon. Member for Kettering has raised an important point, and we should congratulate all the health service workers in his hospital on such a fantastic result. The issues are clear: they involve good hand-washing policy, good isolation facilities with cohort nursing, and the responsible prescription of antibiotics. There are a lot of other things that I could talk about, but those are the three most important messages, and they have obviously been hammered home in the hospital in the hon. Gentleman's constituency.

Mother hits out over MRSA on newborn

Link: Mother hits out over MRSA - Birmingham Mail.

A MOTHER-of-seven has hit out at a Birmingham hospital after her newborn baby was diagnosed with MRSA - and still has the dangerous bug six months later. Kerry Wood’s moment of joy was cut short when she discovered something was wrong with little Harvey after his birth at Birmingham Women’s Hospital in Edgbaston. Swabs were taken days later and tested positive for MRSA on the baby’s body. But hospital bosses said the source of the hospital superbug, which kills more than 7,000 people in the UK a year, was "uncertain." Kerry, of Charnwood Close, Frankley, said: "I knew something was wrong with Harvey very early on as he had a strange smell coming from his belly button like dead meat. "He was born on Friday November 16 and I later mentioned to the nurses the smell, but was discharged the next day. On Sunday I brought Harvey back to the hospital and this time tests were done and showed he had jaundice and MRSA, although it was not in the blood but present on his body.

MRSA kills mother in hospital with ear infection

Link: MRSA kills mother in hospital with ear infection - Telegraph.

The family of a 39-year-old mother has spoken out after she was admitted to hospital with an ear infection, then died after contracting MRSA. Shakuntala Pancholi, a civil servant, had developed the infection after routine surgery. She was admitted to hospital but died from multi-organ failure 16 days later. An inquest earlier this week ruled that she died of natural causes and yesterday her husband Suresh, 51, said: "She went into hospital with an ear infection, which is not life-threatening and then suddenly she is in a critical condition."

Legal threat over woman's death

Link: BBC NEWS | England | Nottinghamshire | Legal threat over woman's death.

Mrs Pancholi, from Leicester, was in hospital for a serious ear infection when she was diagnosed with the superbug infection MRSA. She was treated with antibiotics, but had an allergic reaction to them, the inquest at Leicester Coroner's Court heard. A post-mortem examination showed Mrs Pancholi died of multi-organ failure linked to an infection. A statement from the University Hospitals of Leicester said: "The coroner accepted that this tragic death was not caused by staff at the hospitals. "Regardless of the verdict, there are lessons that we must learn from this and things we need to make sure do not happen again."

Tyneside hospitals battle against MRSA target

Link: Hospitals battle against MRSA target - News Guardian.

THE number of cases of MRSA in North Tyneside and Northumberland has exceeded annual targets, according to a senior health figure. From April 2007 to January 2008, Northumbria Health Care Foundation Trust, responsible for North Tyneside General Hospital and Wansbeck General, recorded 47 incidents of MRSA, 20 more than its target. However, the trust recorded 48 incidents of C.Difficile, which was within its target. This is outlined in a report by director of planning and performance for North Tyneside Primary Care Trust Mark Adams. Mr Adams said: "There is ongoing work to reduce the number of MRSA and C.Difficile infections.