MRSA, Mersa, Staph, Staff Infection, Treatment & Symptoms

Safe Patient project, Maine Screening program

McCleary MRSA Prevention » Consumers Union, Safe Patient project, Maine Screening program.

On November 17 and 18, I attended an event sponsored by the Consumers Union, Safe Patient Project, titled “To Err is Human, To Delay is Deadly”. Other activists and advocates very similar to me, attended and participated in panels. Victims and organizers also attended. The CU has the momentum to make difference for patients and their safety. I was inspired by the work and the level of dedication of these activists. Most of us work alone with no funding and our goal is simple, to protect vulnerable patients from harm when they are being treated in our nation’ or State’s hospitals or by our doctors. It is little to ask or expect. We pay a huge premium for care and we deserve the best. The work of the Maine Quality Forum MDRO metrics group regarding MRSA has culminated in a plan for a “Point Prevalence Test” . This is the approach they have chosen rather than just going ahead with a good solid MRSA screening program. During this ”test” we will screen known high risk populations for MRSA only on admission for 6 months. Then each and every hospital will report their results. If at those hospitals, any population tests less than 7% positive screenings, they will eliminate that high risk population from the populations to be screened from that point on. This sounded reasonable until I figured out that only 5% MRSA positives of the over 4000 transfer patients to EMMC has each year would be 200 patients colonized that would be admitted with undetected MRSA colonization. (Only 1% would be 40 patients). 200 or more patients would go into EMMC each year colonized with MRSA colonization facing a myriad of procedures, or surgery, or other risky events that could leave them infected and disabled or dead. Colonized patients are 7 times as likely to suffer an active MRSA infection.

Montrose man fighting MRSA to save his arm

Montrose man fighting MRSA to save his arm.

After almost losing his right arm in an accident 14 years ago a Montrose man is now battling once again to save the same arm. But now he's doing it alone after his health insurance dropped him after the first accident.

Virgin Boss has MRSA say

Virgin but not so innocent - Scotsman.com News.

Branson has worked hard at building his image as a cheeky chappie willing to take on 'vested interests' or 'monopolies' such as British Airways, BSkyB, Coca-Cola, Camelot, the Government and, just this week, the NHS. In his newest role as vice-president of the Patients Association, he attacked trusts that failed to control MRSA. As he said himself in the neatly titled encapsulation of his philosophy Screw It, Let's Do It: "As far as I am concerned, anything, however outlandish, that generates media coverage reinforces my image as a risk-taker who challenges the establishment."

8 TIPS FOR SURVIVING A HOSPITAL STAY

Link: 8 TIPS FOR SURVIVING A HOSPITAL STAY | Philadelphia Daily News | 07/23/2008.

HOSPITAL care is becoming hazardous to the patient's health. Considering nearly a quarter of a million deaths in hospitals nationwide were found to be preventable (see the Fifth Annual HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals Study, 2008), it's no wonder. However, there is something everyone can do immediately to improve the chances of surviving a hospital stay. There must always be someone - a family member or good friend - to act as a sentinel to oversee hospital care in an effort to prevent medical errors. The hospitalized patient just can't do this for himself. The good news is that the following strategies are fairly simple to implement. 1. You will act as the patient's eyes and ears. Get a notebook. Write down the patient's name and hospital room number, the names of the physicians and primary nurses and their contact information, and the patient's diagnosis and treatment plan.

See full article at the link above

MRSA victims in call for more information

Link: The Citizens Voice - MRSA cases trigger need for information.

Having experienced firsthand the dangers of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA, those who have encountered the deadly bacterium say the community desperately needs to promote awareness. Resurfacing periodically in Luzerne County, MRSA has plagued institutions ranging from school districts to health care facilities. A strain of bacteria commonly found in the nose and on the skin, MRSA is known for its resistance to antibiotics and usually spreads via hand-to-hand contact, open wounds or nasal secretions. It is most often found in hospitals, prisons, contact sports, locker rooms and military settings. Given that MRSA can be lethal in extreme cases, too many people have adopted a casual attitude, said Wilkes-Barre resident Cecilia Leigh, a former nurse’s assistant.

Ash Snubs Victims Of Superbug

Link: Ash Snubs Victims Of Superbug - The Daily Record.

ACTRESS Leslie Ash is said to have snubbed the MRSA support group, despite boasting of wanting to help victims of the superbug. They said the star, who won a �5million payout after her career was ruined by MRSA, ignored a plea to join them. Ash invited sufferers to the London launch of a new gel she fronted that killed MRSA and other bacteria. Tony Field, of the 660-member MRSA Support, said: "We were pleased to meet her and invited her to join our group. "It would have been terrific if Leslie had joined us to make our plight a little bit more high-profile. "Unfortunately, Leslie did not seem enamoured at the prospect of joining us at the time and never responded officially to our invite. It's disappointing."

AIDS Actvists Want CA MRSA action over new strain

Link: MRSA Spike Among Gay Men: 'Comprehensive Public Health Approach Needed,' Says AHF.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), today expressed concern over a recent study first reported publicly today in an ‘Annals of Internal Medicine’ article which found that sexually active gay men in San Francisco were 13 times as likely to contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a drug-resistant strain of bacteria, than their heterosexual counterparts. On the heels of recent increases in both HIV infections and syphilis among men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM), AHF believes a multi-pronged public health approach to the prevention of infectious diseases and STDs targeting this and other at-risk populations must be undertaken. AHF also believes that it is crucial that such an effort be sustained for the longer term, and that despite potential budgetary cuts on a state and federal level, significant public health resources and funding must be targeted to help break the chain of new infections in the MSM community, and which according to today’s report, also have the potential to spread into the general population. According to Reuters (“Drug-resistant Staph Passed in Gay Sex—US Study,” Amanda Beck, Reporter, 1/14/08), “Incidence of MRSA is rising along with the resurgence of syphilis, rectal gonorrhea, and new HIV infections partly because of changes in beliefs about the severity of HIV and an increase in risky behaviors, such as illicit drug use and having sex that abrades the skin, Diep's team wrote.” “I am concerned by this latest report showing a significant increase in MRSA infections among men-who-have-sex-with-men, a population already at higher risk for possible HIV exposure,” said Dr. Homayoon Khanlou, Chief of Medicine for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “We know that co-infection with HIV and other STDs can also decrease a patient’s overall well-being and make it easier for an individual to transmit or contract any of these infections. We need to work together to step up our public health outreach and adopt innovative, multi-pronged approaches to the prevention of these infections before they have a chance to become entrenched and endemic both in the MSM and general populations.” “This report should serve as a wake up call and as a catalyst to fast-track and develop innovative, broad-based approaches to public health outreach programs nationwide,” said Whitney Engeran, III, Director, Public Health Division for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Sustained and focused prevention efforts and effective risk-reduction initiatives must be scaled up across the country if we are going to reverse this trend in infections among MSM. Better leadership is required at all levels: federal, state, local and within communities themselves. The efforts should not only be made when the spotlight is on, such as after a report like this one. We need a sustained, unified commitment that doesn’t flag when the numbers begin to decrease.”

Patient/Doctor group call for MRSA clarity

Link: .

Neil Manser of the NCHI, said: “Misconceptions around MRSA risk affecting public confidence in hospital treatment. In addition, out of sheer ignorance, many people who have been infected by MRSA have unjustly been made to feel ostracised. It is therefore vital that clear, accurate information should be provided to patients and this report is an important part of this process.” The members of the Working Group and NCHI are calling for the following points to be addressed to ensure that the general public is better informed and that people with MRSA receive the best possible care: Accurate, easy-to-understand information about MRSA and other healthcare-associated infections must be available to patients and the public People with MRSA need to be informed of their possible treatment options (including home treatment, if appropriate) and be involved in treatment decisions Specialist teams, including microbiologists, should be consulted on the management of patients with healthcare-associated infections, including MRSA Hospital trusts need to have arrangements in place to enable appropriate patients to receive MRSA treatment at home People discharged from hospital with MRSA need to have appropriate support and follow-up and have ongoing access to information and advice Copies of the report are available for download at www.nc-hi.com

Patient Action Video

One mans poignant account of his fathers illness and his own response

A Hundred Thousand Dead Because of Carelessness

Link: A Hundred Thousand Dead Because of Carelessness.

Accidental hospital infection, aside from diabetes or Alzheimer's     * kills more Americans than alcoholism,     * knocks off almost twice as many as car crashes,     * amounts to three times the number of suicides,     * five times the homicide rate,     * three times all deaths by firearms and     * five and a half times as many deaths as are attributed to illegal drug use. Yet we mandate seatbelts in cars by federal law, worry ourselves sick over firearms and spend $18 billion annually (about a million dollars a death) on the War on Drugs. We expect to be at risk if we’re seriously overweight. Cancer might be fatal. Everyone knows that standing under a lone tree during a thunderstorm is dangerous. Walking the edge of a highway at night, wearing dark clothes isn’t a good idea and those who drive drunk have little to complain about when they hit a tree or, worse yet, another car. But who expects to go into the hospital with a simple fracture or a tonsillectomy and come out dead? We’ve named the killer. He does not stalk the halls unknown and shrouded in mystery. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) comes to us mostly courtesy of lazy pediatricians and demanding parents. “Give the kid an antibiotic,” the siren-call of overuse that lead to the Darwinian development of drug-resistant strains. In the sixty years since penicillin and other ‘cillins’ commonly used against infection, various bacteria were busy counting the dead and restructuring the survivors. If that sounds like a battle-plan, it’s not too much of a stretch.

MRSA: The victims strike back

Link: MRSA: The victims strike back | the Daily Mail.

Keith Hall bristled with anger as he came face to face with two burly security guards at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, Essex. Brandishing a filthy cleaning mop and cloth, he stood firm - he'd done nothing wrong. The hospital was covered in dirt and dust - a breeding ground for the deadly virus MRSA - and all he wanted to do was clean up. With Britain currently suffering a hospital hygiene crisis - earlier this year official figures revealed that the death rate from the superbug MRSA had risen 39 per cent in one year - the enthusiasm of this hospital worker was, perhaps, a little unusual. After all, cleaners are often accused of being lackadaisical. In fact, 60-year-old Keith was no ordinary cleaner. A middle-class proprietor of an animal hospital in Norfolk, he lost his wife to MRSA four years ago and was taking part in a BBC2 documentary investigating the state of hygiene in Britain's hospitals.

MRSA Survivors Network

Link: VOICE OF THE PEOPLE (Letters) | Chicago Tribune.

Once I recovered, I resolved to learn as much as possible about the infection. There is a group located in the Chicago area called MRSA Survivors Network, which is administered by Jeanine Thomas, who has also survived a much more advanced state of the infection. This organization has proven to be a highly valuable repository of information to be utilized both as a resource for MRSA survivors seeking to educate themselves as to what can be done to cope with their health issues, and as a vehicle for enlightening the general public as to the gravity of the MRSA infection. Thomas has done an admirable service to the community in helping to bring the MRSA issue to the attention of the Illinois General Assembly, the state's medical community and to the public at large.

Pressure group want figures made public

Link: Highland Radio

     The recently formed Donegal branch of the pressure group "MRSA and Families" is presenting local politicians with a document calling for the threat of MRSA to be tackled The group is also calling for the extent of the infection to be made public. Copies of the document have also been circulated to Health Minister Mary Harney and all TDs in the Dail. Donegal spokesperson Rosemary Cassidy says that over the past ten years, two sets of national guidelines have been published, but never implemented.

Health campaign group slams Norwich infection action

Link: Evening News 24

    A man whose wife died from a killer hospital bug today branded conditions at the N&N an “insult” after carrying out an undercover inspection. Keith Hall, who set up a Norwich branch of MRSA Support after his wife Anne died in 2003, said the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital was no cleaner now than it was when she contracted the bug there. He and another member of the support group went to the hospital and checked rooms, toilets, corridors and other public parts of the £229 million PFI hospital at Colney. His claims come as it emerged more than 2,500 nurses are being forced to share just 65 changing rooms at the hospital - the equivalent of 40 nurses or midwives sharing one changing room.

Patient advocate group launched in Canada

Link: globeandmail.com : Hospital scourge.

   Dr. Besson had no problems recovering from his surgery, but his MRSA infection proved to be another challenge altogether: It so debilitated his health that he remained in bed for nearly four months under heavy antibiotic treatment. At the end of his stay, he picked up another formidable invader, Clostridium difficile, a diarrhea maker that killed nearly 2,000 elderly patients from 2003 to 2004 in Quebec. The grim hospital adventure turned Dr. Besson into a full-fledged patient advocate. In 2005, together with family and friends, he founded the Montreal-based Association to Defend Victims of Nosocomial Infections to help reduce infections acquired in hospital by 50 per cent. The association's website now receives 4,000 visits a month. Print Edition - Section Front Section F Front  Enlarge Image More National Stories     * THIS WAS JOHNATHON     * A chance to bring an end to historic civil war     * Insult to injury: Rugby player learns too late about insurance     * Just how French is la Francophonie?     * More than apology is needed, Arar says     * Volpe campaign hit with $20,000 fine     * Go to the National section The Globe and Mail Dr. Besson, who sounds a vital 85 years of age on the phone, spends much of his free time educating the public and health-care professionals about the scourge that sickens 90,000 patients and kills 4,500 a year in Quebec alone. In fact, hospital infections bury more Quebeckers every year than car accidents and breast cancer combined, he declares with alarm. "The problem of hospital-acquired infections is a really important one, not only in Quebec and Canada but around the world," Dr. Besson says.

MRSA victims and their families are fighting back

Link: Waterford News & Star:

      VICTIMS of the hospital superbug MRSA and their families are being asked to attend a public meeting in the Tower Hotel at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday April 25. The meeting is being called by MRSA and Families Support Group who intend to establish branches of the organisation nationwide. Local member Teresa Graham, whose husband Dermot acquired MRSA while undergoing treatment for cancer at Waterford Regional Hospital and died in late 2004, said that at long last MRSA was on the national health agenda. Following meetings with the Minister for Health, Mary Harney all doctors have now been directed to inform patients if they have MRSA and to have MRSA recorded on a death certificate. However, despite appeals to the Minister, MRSA sufferers or their families will not be given the same access to counselling that is currently available to Hepatitis C sufferers. At present there are no figures available for the number of MRSA sufferers or the number of people who have died as a result of MRSA in this country. However, Teresa Graham believes that in 2004 at least 320 people died of MRSA-related illnesses and 120 people died directly as a result of MRSA.

Ash determined to persue MRSA campaign

Link: News - Leeds Today

     LESLIE Ash is still picking up the pieces of her life after almost being killed by a hospital superbug. Two years after being struck down by a deadly variant of the MRSA infection, the actress struggles to walk properly and is still in daily pain. But Leslie, wife of Leeds United soccer legend Lee Chapman, is determined to use her remaining strength to make sure other patients do not suffer the same fate. Leslie, 46, told the YEP: "No-one else should have to go through what I went through. You go into hospital to get better, not come out and get worse." The star of Men Behaving Badly and Merseybeat contracted MSSA, similar to MRSA, when she was admitted to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London with a broken rib and a collapsed lung. She believes the infection set in when doctors inserted an epidural needle to relieve the pain. The infection caused a large abscess to form which put pressure on her spine. The damage means she has lost much of her sense of balance leaving her unable to walk properly. The mother-of-two is now suing the NHS Trust which treated her and is also leading a campaign to clean up hospitals.

Geordie Doctors Dispute Patient's Advice

Link: RedOrbit

          Hospital doctors in the region are at loggerheads with a patient support group over a booklet it has published on MRSA. Patient group MRSA Support has produced a leaflet called MRSA ( A Patient's Defence urging patients to speak up if they believe hospital staff aren't doing enough to halt the spread of the superbug. But medics at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust ( which runs the city's RVI, Freeman and General hospitals ( have described some of the information given as "excessive and unnecessary" and fear it could lead to confrontations between patients and hospital workers. Dr Steve Pedler, director of infection prevention and control at the trust, has written to the Department of Health to make the Government aware of the document, and wants the MRSA Support group to change its contents. "The leaflet has clearly been written by a person with strong feelings on this topic," said Dr Pedler yesterday. "Some of the advice within it is sensible and reasonable. Some we would regard as excessive and unnecessary, but not actually harmful, while some is inaccurate or could lead to confrontation with trust staff." But yesterday, Tony Field, a founder of MRSA Support and author of the booklet, stood by what he had written.

icCheshireOnline - Visitors urged to join MRSA fight

Link: icCheshireOnline - Visitors urged to join MRSA fight.

    HEALTH watchdogs are encouraging Leighton Hospital visitors to join them in the fight against MRSA. The Patient and Public Involvement Forum (PPI) has launched a Clean Your Hands campaign, stressing the need for cleanliness across the hospital site. It has carried out surveys of hospital departments to monitor moves to stamp out the superbug. New traffic light posters have been placed round Leighton and its sister hospital, the Victoria Infirmary at Northwich. The move comes as figures showed 18 cases of MRSA within the Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust between March and September 2005 - two less than the same period in 2004.

Support Group Fights Killer Bug

Link: Enfield Independent

    A woman whose grandmother died after contracting a lethal infection which swept through wards at North Middlesex Hospital is setting up a support group for victims' families. Caterina Cotrulia, 93, died in September, 2005, after contracting clostridium difficile (C. diff) a bug which attacks the body causing severe diarrhoea and dehydration during her stay in Michael Bates Ward, in Sterling Way, Edmonton. Her death sparked accusations of gross negligence after one other patient died and around 30 fell ill as the infection swept wards. Internal investigations were also launched. Graziella Kontkowski, granddaughter of Ms Cotrulia, is now calling on families affected by C. diff, along with the superbug MRSA, to come forward.