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Search results for "MRSA" OR "MSSA"
81 records
found from year 2005
| View search results from other years: 2006 2004 |
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| Wednesday, 08 June 2005 12:21 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Checklists outlining the correct procedures for common tasks are to be given to nurses in a bid to halt the spread of the MRSA superbug and other hospital acquired infections.
Nurses will receive cards with step-by-step instructions when carrying out procedures where there is a risk of infection.
Janice Nicholson, the director of the Department of Health’s MRSA/Cleaner Hospitals programme, devised the plan which has been welcomed by the Royal College of Nursing.
She told Nursing Standard magazine: “The real impact is made by being consistent. It is about stating the critical things that may seem glaringly obvious.”
“For example, if a patient is on a ventilator, there may be five things that need to be done every day to reduce the chance of that patient getting a hospital-acquired infection.
“Auditing shows that two or three of those things are routinely done but it is only when you do all five that you get a reduction in infections.”
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| Monday, 06 June 2005 10:44 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A new hospital superbug has killed 12 patients at one of Britain’s leading hospitals and could pose a serious threat to the NHS, the Independent newspaper has reported.
More than 3000 patients at Stoke Mandeville hospital have been infected with a new strain of the Clostridium difficile (CD) virus since 2003 and attempts to control the spread have failed as the alcohol based handwash used in wards has no effect on this bug.
In total, 934 people died after becoming infected by the bug in 2003, around the same number who died from MRSA. Reported cases of infection increased from 1,000 in 1990 to 43,672 in 2004.
Dr Andrew Kirk of Buckinghamshire Hospitals Trust told the Independent: “Infection control is one of the top priorities for this trust.
“We are adopting the most up-to-date technology to ensure that we minimise any risk of patients acquiring infection while in hospital.
“We do however need to be realistic about the prevalence of these bacteria in our community and ensure that patients who acquire it are treated effectively and quickly to prevent any further spread.”
A Department of Health spokesman said that the Health Protection Agency was monitoring the situation but Clostridium difficile was not a new phenomenon and nurses should wash their hands using soap and water.
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| Friday, 03 June 2005 10:40 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Bedside Bibles may be removed by hospital chiefs amid fears that they offend patients of other faiths and help the spread of the MRSA superbug.
Health officials from Leicester NHS Trust said discussions were in the early stages but the possibility of removing religious texts was being considered by the hospital chaplaincy, infection control and service equality.
A spokesperson said that bibles would remain available through the chaplaincy, whatever the outcome.
But Gideons International, the company which supplies hospital Bibles, said that there removal would be “outrageous”.
Ian Mair, executive director of Gideons International, said: “It’s political correctness gone mad.”
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| Thursday, 26 May 2005 09:30 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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UK experts from the Universities of Kent and Newcastle, claim to have found a bug that kills MRSA which lives on the sea bed.
After tests a major breakthrough came in bacteria found living 1,000ft down in sediments on the bottom of the Sea of Japan. One group, called actinomycete, produce their own antibiotic compound, called abyssomicin C and tests showed it killed MRSA.
The team who made the discovery are so confident of success that they have formed their own company to research and develop new drugs.
Microbiologist Dr Jem Stach said “it was a potential first step to halting the apparently relentless advance of MRSA.
“Some strains of the superbug are immune to the most powerful antibiotics now in use. But the sea bacteria can also control these”.
Dr Stach, of the Institute for Research on Environment and Sustainability in Newcastle, said: "The antibiotic is effective. It kills MRSA".
He added: "We want to know the genes responsible for the production of the antibiotic.
"Then the bacteria can be grown on a commercial scale”.
Dr Phil Williamson, from Natural Environment Research Council, said: "They have developed quite sophisticated systems of trying to kill off their rivals, and by looking at the different com£they produce, the scientists have identified new bacteria which could provide the next generation of antibiotics.
"The ones from the bottom of the sea have not come into contact with disease-forming bacteria [on land] which therefore have not got any resistance to them”.
But he added more research would be needed.
Researcher Professor Alan Bull, from the University of Kent, said: "The most exciting discovery has been a chemically-unique antibiotic, abyssomicin C, which has been found in an actinomycete recovered from the marine environment and has properties which could be used to inhibit MRSA”.
The team showed their work at a Natural Environment Research Council meeting.
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| Tuesday, 24 May 2005 11:00 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Richard Campbell-Smith, 18, a Royal Marine was killed by a lethal new superbug after suffering a few minor cuts.
Richard scratched his legs while training he then become infected by the toxin, Panton Valentine Leukocidin (PVL), which is linked to MRSA, PVL kills off white blood cells, leaving the body unable to fight infection.
Three days after getting the scratches, Richard was found collapsed on the floor by his bed. He was admitted to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and died shortly after arrival.
A post-mortem examination revealed that he had cardiac and respiratory failure.
A spokeswoman for the Health Protection Agency told the Press Association: "We are aware of strains of Staphylococcus aureus with PVL, but it is extremely rare in the UK.
"There is a surveillance scheme for this, but when we have Staphylococcus aureus samples in our laboratory we test a proportion of them for PVL.
We have issued advice for clinicians so that if they suspect patients that may have this infection, they can send us the patient's sample for us to test in the laboratory”.
Dr Marina Morgan, a microbiologist, said: “PVL is an horrendous toxin because it kills white blood cells so they can’t kill the bug.
“It is the worst bug I have ever seen and people really need to know about it. It is untreatable. It multiplies very quickly. One bug will multiply into 17 million within 24 hours. Usually signs include pneumonia, coughing up blood and very high temperatures, but not everyone will look for it.
“PVL testing is very complicated because samples have to be sent to London".
Elizabeth Earland, the Exeter and Greater Devon District Coroner, recorded a verdict of accidental death. She said: “I am going to make a recommendation to the medical officer for health that he disseminates information to all doctors updating them on likely symptoms of this infection.
“This is to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment in the hope that mortality of this dreadful infection be reduced".
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| Monday, 23 May 2005 10:28 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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A solution to the MRSA superbug crisis may be a step closer thanks to a plant commonly used in many household products.
Dr Valerie Ferro, of Strathclyde University, has been conducting research into the antibacterial compound in the aloe vera plant which has been found to kill strains of bacteria thought to be immune to existing antibiotics.
Dr Ferro first became aware of the medicinal potential of aloe vera after she used it to cure a long-standing asthma condition that she had suffered from since the age of ten.
It is now hoped that the plant will help scientists to gain the upper hand in combating resistant strains of bacteria.
“I had some students doing their honours projects and what they started to look at was different kinds of things like shigella, which causes diarrhoea, and ecoli,” Dr Ferro said.
“They started to use concentrated aloe vera on bacteria and found the bacteria started to die. It was highly effective.
“Then I thought, if it works on intestinal bacteria, it may work on things like MRSA.
She then experimented with the aloe vera on samples of various strains of the hospital superbug.
“It worked on them as well, including the ones that are ‘all-drug resistant’ – the ones which multi-anti-biotics don’t kill,” she said.
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| Sunday, 22 May 2005 11:01 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Robert Herbertson a superbug victim is suing for £100,000 after falling ill with MRSA at Woodend Hospital, Aberdeen.
Research by Scotland on Sunday highlights Woodend, which cares predominantly for the elderly, as having the worst superbug record of any individual unit in the country.
Robert claims that poor conditions at the hospital are the reason why it has an MRSA infection rate almost four times the Scottish average. The hospital, run by NHS Grampian, recorded 91 cases out of just 5,645 patients last year.
Robert caught MRSA after having an operation to replace his elbow joint at Woodend in June 2001.
"After I was discharged my wound started to leak and I had to be readmitted," he said. "I became very ill and lost about 16 pounds in 10 days.
"The conditions at the hospital were pretty poor. They would move us to a different ward at weekends and then move us back. But the next person who used the bed I had been in on the ward they moved us to could then catch my infection. No one disinfected the curtains or work surfaces”.
He has now been left without a right elbow joint after the MRSA infection ravaged his arm. His lawyers have launched an action at Aberdeen Sheriff Court against NHS Grampian.
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| Friday, 20 May 2005 09:29 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Surgeons at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, have apologised to Joan Hutchison after they left a two-inch scalpel in her husband's abdominal cavity during a heart bypass operation.
The surgeons knew they had mislaid the blade during the operation on Victor Hutchison, 76. After a vain hour-long search and failing to spot it on an X-ray, they assumed it had been thrown out with clinical waste. It had instead been left inside Victor.
Three months later Mr Hutchison was admitted to another hospital, the Royal Devon and Exeter, with abdominal pains. The scalpel was then found on another X-ray.
Doctors decided it was too risky to remove as it was so close to his spine the doctors said they would monitor it regularly to make sure it did not move.
Mr Hutchinson died six months after the blunder from unrelated complications including kidney failure and MRSA.
His widow Joan said yesterday: “It was such a preposterous thing to have happened. When they discovered it, I was just completely and totally numb. It did cause Vic a lot of concern. He had times when he found it very concerning and was very depressed”.
In February this year, Joan, received a letter of apology from the hospital, which has now tightened its procedures as a result.
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| Wednesday, 18 May 2005 10:28 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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The British Medical Association has criticised the Government’s smoking ban proposals for being “unworkable” and not comprehensive enough.
A number of bills from the Department of Health were among new legislation announced by the Queen yesterday at the state opening of parliament.
A ban on smoking in public places will start to be implemented at the end of next year, with all government departments and NHS premises becoming smoke free.
By the end of 2007, all indoors public spaces and work areas will fall under the smoking ban.
The only exception will be licensed premises, which will escape the legislation until 2008 when the ban will extend to all pubs and bars where food is served.
The Government has said that this approach is the best way to account for the rights of smokers while protecting the public and workers from the dangers of passive smoking.
However, responding to yesterday’s speech, Mr James Johnson, chairman of the British Medical Association, said:
"Failure to make all workplaces smoke-free means that thousands of people will continue to be exposed to second-hand smoke.
BMA research suggests the Government has underestimated the number of pubs that will be exempt from the ban, and many councils say that the plans in their current form will be unworkable.”
Hospital hygiene standards and tackling the MRSA superbug were also on the agenda and Mr Johnson welcomed the announcement of tougher sanctions against hospital executives who fail to meet standards but warned that the plans do not go far enough.
"The plans to ensure care homes and independent healthcare providers, as well as NHS sites, take action on hygiene are welcome,” he said
“However, current rates of MRSA are still high. These proposals are scanty on the detail of concrete measures to reduce healthcare associated infections.”
The Queen went on to announce a mental health bill which will set new rules for the compulsory treatment of people with mental disorders where they pose a risk to themselves or others.
But Ministers are still uncertain of how to approach the proposals after a previous draft of the bill was criticised for being “unethical and unworkable”.
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| Monday, 16 May 2005 09:54 | | BNN: British Nursing News Online · www.bnn-online.co.uk |
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Patricia Hewitt, the new Secretary of State for Health, said yesterday that hospitals could be held criminally liable if patients catch the MRSA superbug.
She told ITV1's Dimbleby Programme the Government is looking to make current laws stronger to deal with the threat.
Asked on the programme if that meant hospitals could be held criminally liable if patients contracted bugs such as MRSA she said: "That's what we are looking at.
"We can't have a situation where we've got tougher hygiene laws and standards in food factories than we have for people who are very, very seriously ill in hospital”.
Ms Hewitt said it would be "absurd" to force everyone on a routine visit to a hospital ward to wear gloves and masks. But she said visitors had a responsibility.
Ms Hewitt also indicated private firms could be given an even greater role in the NHS.
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