MRSA and C difficile superbug deaths at 10,000 a year
March 24, 2008
MRSA and C difficile superbug deaths at 10,000 a year
Lois RogersThe number of patients in British hospitals dying from superbug infections has reached more than 10,000 every year, according to an expert.
The new figure is about 20% higher than the official toll of 8,000 a year.
Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College London, said that the real number of those succumbing to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile (C difficile) in the UK is higher than the government’s records show.
“I think it is at least 10,000 a year,” he said. “A lot of people are never tested for these infections and their deaths are put down to something else.”
“Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now so well established here, we will never get rid of them,” said Hugh Pennington, emeritus professor of bacteriology at Aberdeen University and a world expert.
Latest European figures show that Britain’s hospitals are still teeming with treatment-resistant bacteria.
While strict hygiene measures have ensured low infection rates in other countries, microbiologists here are privately admitting that Britain’s problem is so out of control, it will be impossible to prevent the high level of deaths from continuing.
The government’s pledge to reduce rates of MRSA to half the 2004 level is unattainable, they say.
According to figures from Eurosurveillance, at least 42% of MRSA bacteria in British hospitals are “superstrains”, compared with rates of 20% or lower elsewhere.
In the 31-nation European antisuperbug league table, Britain lies close to the bottom, with an infection-control performance better than those of only Malta, Greece, Portugal and Romania.
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My sister had a child in a near-by hospital in 2004. She had complications that required her to have a c-section. Shortly after the birth of her son, she started getting very, very hurtful boils. She went to the local doctor, and was given various antibotics, including some that had to be administered through her nostrils. These antibiotics seemed to take care of the boils when they were visable, but they kept reoccuring, and still do to this day. After my nephew was born, my sister and her newborn son, came to live with me and my husband, and our 11 year old son. My husband was the first one to have a boil, and it occured on his lower lip. We just took care of it as if it was a cold sore, and after one month, it finally went away, but soon after, my husband started noticeing “boils” on his buttox and thighs. I sent my husband to our local doctor, and he was given antibiotics (pills) and was told to soak the boil in hot/warm water with a warm wash cloth, and then try to drain the boil himself. My husband does not like doctors, needles, or pills, so he has been “draining” his own boils since then….which amounts to about 36 boils since June 2004 all on his calves, thighs, and buttox. I have only had one case of these “boils” (two on top of each other) I went to three diffrent doctors before I found one that would lance them, (in January 2005) and I have not had anymore since.
For the past three weeks, I have been having severe pains in my left hip, night sweats, insomnia, and hot/cold flashes…..could these symptoms be from MRSA? Can MRSA live inside of us? I am worried about myself, my husband, my son, my nephew and my sister…….is there anything that can cure MRSA?
Thank you for your help!!
Jennifer Stockdale and family