BMJ  2004;329:131 (17 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7458.131-c

News

MRSA infections rose by 5% between 2003 and 2004

London

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Figures released this week from the government's mandatory reporting scheme on Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia infections acquired in hospital show an increase of almost 8% between 2001-2 and 2003-4, from 17 933 to 19 311.

Forty per cent of the 19 311 infections in 2003-4 were methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), making the United Kingdom's rate one of the worst in Europe. The number of MRSA infections alone rose by almost 5% between 2003 and 2004.

These findings, which come from the Health Protection Agency, follow a report from the spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, which criticises the government's tardiness in implementing a national mandatory surveillance programme.

Four years after publication of its first report on hospital infections the watchdog found that implementation of its original recommendations had been "patchy," despite policy guidance from the Department of Health.

Increased resistance to antibiotics, greater demands on infection control teams, and greater . . . [Full text of this article]

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• Adedeji, A, Gray, J W (2005). MRSA at an English children's hospital from 1998 to 2003. Arch. Dis. Child. 90: 720-723 [Abstract] [Full text]  

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