MRSA Notes

…Of those people trying to keep this problem (maybe I can safely say epidemic now??) swept under the rug. It was only a matter of time. If the flurry of traffic and comments here at MRSA Notes and over at MRSA Resources as well is any indication, along with the slurry of emails [...]

Here is a feel good story for you - Grant Cawte, who has survived more unsurvivable illnesses than anyone I can think of - is representing Great Britain in the World Transplant Games this summer in Bangkok.  Grant has come back from leukemia, a brain tumor, a rejected transplant AND MRSA.  All of that [...]

Do you know about the Robin Hood Fund?  This is a really nifty charity site appealing both to the fun and to the serious.  Make a wish, either naughty or nice, and the users vote on who’s wish to grant.  That is the ultra short version, read more about it here.
 
Anyway, there is a [...]

This is a story of a woman who acquired MRSA in her C-section wound.  Remember these tips when you go into the hospital for any invasive procedure.
I had a baby March 2, 2007. I was is surgery for 3 hours due to excessive bleeding. On March 5th I was released, but the night before that [...]

I mentioned the GeneXpert system a couple of weeks ago, when it was approved by the FDA, and now I am happy to say that the the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston, TX has announced that they are the first hospital in TX and in the VA to install it.
“A key factor [...]

My friends at RID are featured in the Spring issue of Ms. magazine. Here is an exerpt:

Hospital-acquired infections add an estimated $30.5 billion to the nation’s annual health-care tab in hospital costs alone…’These infections are often transmitted by touch,’ McCaughey said. ‘RID has shown how deadly poor housekeeping can be in hospitals.’ ”
”McCaughey and [...]

I always love it when MRSA hits the mainstream media, and it has done just that. Yesterday, USA Today’s Anita Manning presents an article about “search and destroy” programs being implemented in some of our nation’s hospitals in order to combat HA-MRSA. These hospitals have seen successful results in a few other hospitals, [...]

MRSA Support chairman, and friend, Tony Field has come out this week and accused Irish hospitals of discharging patients early, without MRSA testing, then when the patients come back in a few weeks, they call their MRSA “community-acquired.” All of this effort just so they can show lower infection rates. [source]
Is this an eye [...]

Congratulations to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center for receiving the Qualis Health Award of Excellence for leading the way in hospital infection prevention. They have made a hospital wide effort to reduce MRSA in their facility by extremely good handwashing by the staff, screening patients and using isolation techniques to control MRSA, and it [...]

Good news for the future of speedy MRSA testing (currently a rushed test still takes 24 hours or more to get results)! Cepheid’s Xpert MRSA Test has been cleared by the FDA for marketing to hospitals. For all ‘yall with the need to know more, here are some gory details:

The GeneXpert System is [...]