Hospital infections afflict 2 million yearly

 Carole Moss thought her 15-year-old son was sick with a bad case of strep throat or the flu. When he grew worse on Easter morning 2006, she took him to the hospital.

The next day Nile died of an illness she’d never heard of and one she believes he caught in a hospital — a drug-resistant staph infection.

Since Nile’s death, Moss, has lobbied tirelessly to change the laws governing the reporting of the socalled “super bug,” or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The majority of cases are contracted in hospitals, and Moss believes Nile caught the bacterium a couple of weeks earlier after undergoing a series of hospital tests for a condition he was born with.

“Had I known about this epidemic, I would have asked for him to be tested for MRSA,” says Moss. Had Nile been tested, he could have been treated with antibiotics.

Moss’ concern is growing among lawmakers, insurance companies and hospital administrators as they tackle the deadly and expensive problem of hospital-acquired infections. Sick people entering the hospital often require treatment with medical devices that puncture their skin and become an entry point for infection. For instance, catheters are a common cause for urinary tract infections, a common hospital-acquired infection.

About 2 million Americans catch an infection in the hospital every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

MRSA, which killed roughly 19,000 people nationwide in 2005, is not included on the list of expenses that Medicare will reimburse. Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, says that MRSA has been left off Medicare’s list because of disagreement over whether the infection can be prevented.

RAISING AWARENESS

Gilberto Chavez, state epidemiologist for the California Department of Public Health, said this year the state began requiring reporting of hospitalizations of people with MRSA but not those who contract it in the hospital.

“We know quite a lot about MRSA in hospitals and what leads to cases in the hospital,” Chavez said. “There are a lot of good guidelines that hospitals should be following to prevent cases. We don’t have the same level of understanding of community-associated (MRSA).”

That’s why Moss says legislation is crucial. She has also started the nonprofit Nile’s Project at www. nilesproject.com to raise awareness about hospital-acquired illnesses.

“This is such an epidemic,” she said. “The reason he didn’t get the care or treatment is because the information has been held from you and me and everyone else.”

About MRSA
MRSA (methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus) occurs most frequently among patients who undergo invasive medical procedures or who have weakened immune systems and are being treated in hospitals and health care facilities such as nursing homes and dialysis centers.
MRSA in health care settings commonly causes serious and potentially lifethreatening infections like pneumonia, or in the bloodstream or at surgical sites.

The main mode
of transmission is through hands, especially those of health care workers. If appropriate hand hygiene such as washing with soap and water or using an alcohol-based sanitizer is not performed, the bacteria can be spread when the health care worker touches other patients.
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention