Screening could restrain hospital superbug

Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a cause of difficult-to-treat infections like blood poisoning and pneumonia. Patients undergoing treatment at more than one hospital in Europe should be tested for the superbug to prevent its spread.

Research performed
The researchers used an interactive web device to record diverse strains of staphylococcus aureus bacteria across Europe and the results illustrated that MRSA strains were likely to gather in local boundaries and at times individual hospitals.

Findings of the study suggest that infections caused by MRSA were occurring in biological groups across Europe and did not scatter freely.

This led to the conclusion that it was spreading through patients who were frequently admitted to various hospitals.

Lead researcher Hajo Grundmann of the University Medical Centre in Groningen, Netherlands said, “Patients found to have MRSA should be isolated and handled with proper infection-prevention measures such as gloves and gowns or, if possible, be kept out of hospital until the bug had been treated.”

Drug-resistant microbes seem to be the rising problem in hospitals and other sickbays and usually the staff is blamed for not abiding by the cleanliness measures.

Medical professionals also say that extensive use of antibiotics in Europe is leading to increased number of cases of MRSA.

European center for disease prevention and control that supervises and informs on diseases in the European Union, estimated that superbug infections are accountable for 900 million euros $1.31 billion a year in extra hospital expenses and an additional 600 million euros annually in lost output.

Remedies to the ‘superbug trouble’
Grundmann said, “Screening of patients had been introduced in the Netherlands and in some hospitals in Britain and was helping to cut the number of MRSA cases.”

Bathing patients with an antibacterial and spraying medicated ointment are sure to reduce the rate of staphylococcus infections. Antiseptics have proved to do a better job than iodine solutions in cutting the risk of infection.

Hospitals have also come up with ways to prevent the health workers from scattering the bugs. But patients also contaminate themselves by not only visiting varied hospitals but also by carrying germs on their skin.

Grundmann said if screening were brought in hospital settings throughout Europe, it could crash the occurrence of MRSA in few years.

The study appears in the Journal Public Library of Science Medicine.