PVL: New strain of MRSA superbug targets the young, and its latest victim is an NHS nurse
Two people have died after catching a MRSA superbug strain that has never caused deaths in UK hospitals before. A healthcare worker at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire died in September after catching the infection called Panton-Valentine Leukocidin, (PVL) the Health Protection Agency said.
The Health Protection Agency said three other nurses in the West Midlands hospital were among eight people who contracted the new, more lethal strain of MRSA, four of whom have infections including boils and abscesses. Two have died.
It is the first time that the toxic strain of the superbug, known as PVL-producing MRSA, has caused infection and deaths in a hospital, the agency said. The outbreak has alarmed public health officials who say it could pose risks for staff as well as patients. The toxic PVL strain has previously been detected only in small outbreaks among healthy children and young people. It attacks the white blood cells, destroys tissue and can cause boils up to 3 inches (10cms) across.
If it became established in hospitals, where people are sicker, have lowered immunity and may have open wounds, it could pose a much more serious threat. Ordinary hospital-associated MRSA preys on older, sicker patients and does not normally affect nurses and other staff.
The Health Protection Agency put out a warning to the NHS at the weekend in its weekly Communicable Disease Report. It said patients with boils and abscesses should be tested for the new strain and the results sent to the Centre for Infections in Colindale, north London.
In a statement, the agency said: "This outbreak is the first time transmission and deaths due to this strain are known to have occurred in a healthcare setting in England and Wales. The HPA is advising the hospital on outbreak control measures and will continue to monitor MRSA infection rates nationally."
The lethal nature of the new strain of MRSA was demonstrated two years ago when a physically fit young soldier became infected after grazing his leg while out running on Woodbury Common, Devon. Richard Campbell, 18, a Royal Marine recruit, rapidly developed swelling in both legs, became unable to walk and died two days later. A 28-year-old woman also died after picking up the bug in her local gym.
The source of the outbreak is thought to have been a patient who died on the same ward several months earlier. Investigations revealed the nurse had been infected with the PVL strain of MRSA and another nurse on the same ward who had a history of abscesses was also infected. It is likely the nurse who died was carrying the bug on her skin and it became a lethal infection when she had the operation.
The PVL strain of Staphylococcus aureus was identified in the 1930s and accounted for 60 per cent of all staph infections before 1960. It was almost eliminated by antibiotic methicillin in 1961, but has resurged, linked to the growth of MRSA.
Taken from:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2083867.ece
Separately Health Direct has learnt of a new nanny state directive for Doctors, including senior hospital consultants, who have been banned from wearing ties because NHS managers claim they could spread the superbug MRSA.
An NHS trust has told hospital consultants they face disciplinary action if they repeatedly wear a bow tie or neck tie on the wards. Doctors and nurses have even been encouraged to confront colleagues who break the "no-tie" code.
The rules have been introduced by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust to reduce its rate of MRSA infection, the highest in England.
Managers say neck garments are "superfluous" and that as they are not cleaned as often as other items of clothing could be an infection hazard.
However, doctors say the rules are driven by political correctness rather than scientific evidence. They say their professionalism could be eroded by the dress-down policy and fear patients will have less confidence in open-shirted medics.
One consultant at the trust, who did not want to be named for fear of disciplinary action, said: "If you come to see a consultant in Brighton, you will be greeted by an open neck shirted doctor who will look as if he is the hospital DJ, but will in fact be the consultant."
Dr Michael Dixon, a bow-tie wearing GP and chair of the NHS Alliance, which represents primary care trusts, said research showed patients had more confidence in smartly-dressed doctors. He said: "I certainly would feel less professional if I was not wearing a tie. It is all right if you are an antipodean doctor but not in this country.
"This is political correctness rather than science. Patients need to be able to respect and trust their doctors and going around without ties might damage that relationship."
Professor James Drife, a consultant obstetrician in Leeds, said it might even be sexist. Drife, who wears a bow tie, said: "They wouldn't be allowed to humiliate women by telling them they could not wear a basic item of their clothing."
Claire Rayner, the agony aunt and president of the Patients Association, agreed. The former nurse and MRSA victim said: "This does seem a very puerile argument to me. If a doctor wears a tie properly, and it does not flop around, then there shouldn't be any problem. Issuing these little edicts sounds like someone is trying desperately to find something to say and do about hospital infection.
First reported in:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2508284,00.html
Onlt recently (Fri 27 Oct 06) Health Direct reported that MRSA kills twice as many people as drunk drivers in the UK when Sir John Oldham, a GP and head of the Improvement Foundation, which advises primary care trusts, warned that one in five clinical staff failed to wash their hands, despite evidence that doing so cuts the incidence of hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA, which costs the NHS £1bn a year. Figures for 2004 show MRSA killed 1,623 patients in England and Wales. Some 580 people were killed in drink-driving incidents in Britain.
And what is the great liar doing about MRSA?
On Thu 23 June last year in Bliar's MRSA "fog of ignorance" Mr Edward Leigh MP, the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts in the previous Parliament, said today: “More than four years have passed since our predecessor Committee first highlighted the paucity of information on the extent and cost of hospital acquired infection.
Today we find that little has been done to dispel this fog of ignorance. There is still no mandatory national surveillance and reporting scheme for all hospital acquired infections, the only mandatory reporting scheme for which data has been published is for MRSA bloodstream infections, which account for less than six per cent of all hospital acquired infections.
These data show that the UK's MRSA infection rate ranks among the worst in Europe.
The Health Protection Agency said three other nurses in the West Midlands hospital were among eight people who contracted the new, more lethal strain of MRSA, four of whom have infections including boils and abscesses. Two have died.
It is the first time that the toxic strain of the superbug, known as PVL-producing MRSA, has caused infection and deaths in a hospital, the agency said. The outbreak has alarmed public health officials who say it could pose risks for staff as well as patients. The toxic PVL strain has previously been detected only in small outbreaks among healthy children and young people. It attacks the white blood cells, destroys tissue and can cause boils up to 3 inches (10cms) across.
If it became established in hospitals, where people are sicker, have lowered immunity and may have open wounds, it could pose a much more serious threat. Ordinary hospital-associated MRSA preys on older, sicker patients and does not normally affect nurses and other staff.
The Health Protection Agency put out a warning to the NHS at the weekend in its weekly Communicable Disease Report. It said patients with boils and abscesses should be tested for the new strain and the results sent to the Centre for Infections in Colindale, north London.
In a statement, the agency said: "This outbreak is the first time transmission and deaths due to this strain are known to have occurred in a healthcare setting in England and Wales. The HPA is advising the hospital on outbreak control measures and will continue to monitor MRSA infection rates nationally."
The lethal nature of the new strain of MRSA was demonstrated two years ago when a physically fit young soldier became infected after grazing his leg while out running on Woodbury Common, Devon. Richard Campbell, 18, a Royal Marine recruit, rapidly developed swelling in both legs, became unable to walk and died two days later. A 28-year-old woman also died after picking up the bug in her local gym.
The source of the outbreak is thought to have been a patient who died on the same ward several months earlier. Investigations revealed the nurse had been infected with the PVL strain of MRSA and another nurse on the same ward who had a history of abscesses was also infected. It is likely the nurse who died was carrying the bug on her skin and it became a lethal infection when she had the operation.
The PVL strain of Staphylococcus aureus was identified in the 1930s and accounted for 60 per cent of all staph infections before 1960. It was almost eliminated by antibiotic methicillin in 1961, but has resurged, linked to the growth of MRSA.
Taken from:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2083867.ece
Separately Health Direct has learnt of a new nanny state directive for Doctors, including senior hospital consultants, who have been banned from wearing ties because NHS managers claim they could spread the superbug MRSA.
An NHS trust has told hospital consultants they face disciplinary action if they repeatedly wear a bow tie or neck tie on the wards. Doctors and nurses have even been encouraged to confront colleagues who break the "no-tie" code.
The rules have been introduced by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust to reduce its rate of MRSA infection, the highest in England.
Managers say neck garments are "superfluous" and that as they are not cleaned as often as other items of clothing could be an infection hazard.
However, doctors say the rules are driven by political correctness rather than scientific evidence. They say their professionalism could be eroded by the dress-down policy and fear patients will have less confidence in open-shirted medics.
One consultant at the trust, who did not want to be named for fear of disciplinary action, said: "If you come to see a consultant in Brighton, you will be greeted by an open neck shirted doctor who will look as if he is the hospital DJ, but will in fact be the consultant."
Dr Michael Dixon, a bow-tie wearing GP and chair of the NHS Alliance, which represents primary care trusts, said research showed patients had more confidence in smartly-dressed doctors. He said: "I certainly would feel less professional if I was not wearing a tie. It is all right if you are an antipodean doctor but not in this country.
"This is political correctness rather than science. Patients need to be able to respect and trust their doctors and going around without ties might damage that relationship."
Professor James Drife, a consultant obstetrician in Leeds, said it might even be sexist. Drife, who wears a bow tie, said: "They wouldn't be allowed to humiliate women by telling them they could not wear a basic item of their clothing."
Claire Rayner, the agony aunt and president of the Patients Association, agreed. The former nurse and MRSA victim said: "This does seem a very puerile argument to me. If a doctor wears a tie properly, and it does not flop around, then there shouldn't be any problem. Issuing these little edicts sounds like someone is trying desperately to find something to say and do about hospital infection.
First reported in:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2508284,00.html
Onlt recently (Fri 27 Oct 06) Health Direct reported that MRSA kills twice as many people as drunk drivers in the UK when Sir John Oldham, a GP and head of the Improvement Foundation, which advises primary care trusts, warned that one in five clinical staff failed to wash their hands, despite evidence that doing so cuts the incidence of hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA, which costs the NHS £1bn a year. Figures for 2004 show MRSA killed 1,623 patients in England and Wales. Some 580 people were killed in drink-driving incidents in Britain.
And what is the great liar doing about MRSA?
On Thu 23 June last year in Bliar's MRSA "fog of ignorance" Mr Edward Leigh MP, the Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts in the previous Parliament, said today: “More than four years have passed since our predecessor Committee first highlighted the paucity of information on the extent and cost of hospital acquired infection.
Today we find that little has been done to dispel this fog of ignorance. There is still no mandatory national surveillance and reporting scheme for all hospital acquired infections, the only mandatory reporting scheme for which data has been published is for MRSA bloodstream infections, which account for less than six per cent of all hospital acquired infections.
These data show that the UK's MRSA infection rate ranks among the worst in Europe.
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2:39 PM
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