Preventing the spread of MRSA: ...the epidemiological nature of the problem should be tackled...

doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7472.978-a

BMJ 2004;329:978 (23 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7472.978-a

Letter

Preventing the spread of MRSA

...the epidemiological nature of the problem should be tackled...

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

EDITOR—The attitude towards methicillin resistant Staphylococusaureus (MRSA) in the United Kingdom is a case of shutting thegate after the horse has bolted. Voss says that in Scandinaviaand the Netherlands, where the prevalence of MRSA is low, ascreening and decolonisation policy for healthcare workers isadvocated.¹

My experience of working outside the United Kingdom (in Australia)was that people are unable to work with patients without beingscreened and cleared. Having worked in England in medicine forover 12 years I have never once been screened. Surely we shouldat least be adopting this policy to help combat the problem?

Patients themselves must shoulder some of the blame for bringingMRSA into hospitals. It would be a mammoth task to screen theentire hospital population, but a staggered approach would bea start. Screening elective surgical patients before admissioncould be the first step, then . . . [Full text of this article]

Nicholas Akerman, research registrar

St James's University Hospital, Leeds LS9 7TF nik_lucy@hotmail.com