MRSA "Superbug" Infections A Problem in the Nation's Hospitals
Sometimes, being in the hospital can be hazardous to your health.
According to a recent article in the Washington Times, more than 2 million cases of hospital-acquired infections result in approximately 100,000 U. S. deaths each year.
Hospitals, dialysis centers and other medical facilities have kept silent about this little known fact. Consumer advocates are pushing for greater awareness of this problem and encouraging lawmakers to force hospitals to take steps to reduce the spread of infections.
Mandatory screening for the primary culprit --- methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the so-called superbug of medical settings --- is necessary, states Lisa McGiffert, director of Consumer Union's Stop Hospital Infections campaign. "For too long" hospitals and dialysis centers "have kept patient infections a dirty secret," she says, "but now, more states are moving to make infection rates public, so consumers can make smarter health care choices, and hospitals have a stronger incentive to improve patient care."
How can mandatory screening help? A study by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston found MRSA infections plunged 75 percent with patient screening for MRSA. For the past four years, every patient at the Pittsburgh VA hospital has been tested for MRSA, a policy that has worked in suppressing the drug-resistant bacterium at medical facilities in Europe. VA hospital officials recently told the AARP Bulletin that MRSA infections there have dropped from about 20 a year to one or two a year.