UK Hospitals Should carry a Health Warning

Chlostridium Difficile

12 patients have died after being infected by C Difficile at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Oxfordshire.

Over 300 patients have been infected by the superbug that causes severe diarrhoea.

C Difficile infections have increased from fewer than 1,000 cases in 1990 to 43,672 in 2004. It has not received the same attention as MRSA.

Latest figures show there were 934 deaths from it in 2003, a 38 per cent rise in two years. A similar number of people died from MRSA in the same year, with 955 people dying from the infection, a 30 per cent increase in two years.

Alcohol based gels used to clean hands between patient visits are ineffective against C Difficile.

MRSA

New Scientist reports that deaths from the hospital-acquired superbug MSRA have risen more than 15-fold over the past decade in UK.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) caused 51 deaths in England and Wales in 1993, but by 2002, the figure had soared to 800. Cases of MRSA infection rose 24-fold, from 210 to 5309, during the same period.

However, National Audit Office statistics which show that around 5,000 people die from the hospital superbug every year are a decade out of date, says the MRSA Support Group.

The Birmingham-based organisation, which has 400 members across the UK, believes the number of reported cases of MRSA, is closer to 20,000.

A new objective to dramatically reduce MRSA bloodstream infections in hospitals by March 2008, was announced today by Health Secretary, John Reid.

Speaking at the Chief Nursing Officer's conference in Manchester, Reid said:"I have made it clear that lowering rates of healthcare acquired infections, such as MRSA is a top priority, and that the Government is committed to a relentless campaign to control MRSA.

I expect MRSA bloodstream infection rates to be halved in our hospitals by 2008. NHS Acute Trusts will be tasked with achieving a year on year reduction up to and beyond March 2008."

A 50% reduction! That's still 2,500 deaths a year! Two and a half times the estimated passive smoking death rate.

Suggestion:- spend the money currently poured into anti-smoking campaigns on soap and disinfectant for UK hospitals.