MRSA infections rose by 5% between 2003 and 2004

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 …