It’s not the hospitals fault. The reason it is called a superbug is because it is almost impossible to kill with antibiotics and sterilisers. They try to get rid of it.

I had MRSA while I was in hospital earlier this year. I don’t blame the hospital though. I can assure you that even though I was in isolation (2 weeks in intensive care and 5 weeks in burns unit) the staff were constantly cleaning everything. People had to wear aprons and gloves when coming into my room. It’s just a fact of hospitals that MRSA exists and is difficult to eradicate.

Never said it was, Barry.

Can you outline for me what would constitute an acceptable level of MRSA presence in a maternity unit in your eyes?

It’s estimated that up to 1/3 of people are carriers of MRSA, in their nose and throat, these people may carry the bacteria and be “colonised” with it and never know. That is the normal level of MRSA in everyone.
It becomes a problem when either a carrier’s immune system becomes compromised, usually due to another illness, and they become symptomatic. They begin to show signs of having an MRSA infection. It can also manifest if a carrier accidentally passes it on to someone else, usually the other person will have to be immunosuppressed, their immune system will be already weaked either because of illness or because they may be very old or, as in this case, very young. The bacteria may also enter to an open cut or wound.
If someone knows they are a carrier it can be easily treated with nasal creams and normal hand hygiene, if it gets into a wound or they become symptomatic then there ARE atibiotics, or combinations of antibiotics that can treat it.

They’re not sick

I’m aware that they are not sick YET. how would you feel if it was your newborn? Terrified?

Not if my baby was otherwise healthy, no. MRSA lives happily on the skin of many people who are completely oblivious because it’s not a risk to people with heathy immune systems. That’s why, as the article says, the majority of those babies were sent home with no follow up treatment. But i’m sure lots of people would get a fright initially. The only reason it’s presence in newborns was recently detected us because it only became standard practice to swab newborns i’m recent months. No doubt many many were born and discharged carrying the bacteria prior to this.

I take your point, people would be blissfully unaware without these new infection controls and the article is meant to scare people unneccessarily. However, newborns can be fragile little creatures and I would be frightened if my newborn had a superbug such as this living on her skin with the potential for a deadly infection.

The hospital doesn’t “have it”. It’s present on the skin of some new born babies. MRSA naturally lives on the skin of some people, nothing can be don’t about that. This article is completely sensationalist.

+1 on it being a sensationalist article. I’ve been there, done that, suffered through it, and don’t like seeing the doctors and nurses who saved my life, porters, cleaners, etc, who also helped look after me, being blamed for what is essentially evolution. Natural selection let the antibiotic resistant bacteria multiply while the weaker bacteria was wiped out.

As I said above, I was in isolation so the only people allowed in were hospital staff and immediate family (except my son because no kids were allowed), everyone who came into my room had to wear disposable gloves and aprons, even when my mother called in and had a sore throat they made her wear a surgical mask before leaving her in. Before and after putting on the gloves everyone entering/exiting the room had to wash hands with antibiotic soap. I’ve seen first-hand the efforts that hospital staff go through to contain MRSA and they can’t be faulted.

Barry

It is definitely the hospitals fault if they cannot prove that the patient brought the infection into the hospital with them.
In Denmark there were only approx one hundred total cases last year described as hospital acquired and they rigidly adhere to infection control procedures. In Ireland the vast majority of doctors and nurses do not was their hands per and post touching patients .
However the real issue seems to be the prevalence of this resistant superbug in national pig herds where the likely cause is the overuse of antibiotics both to prevent infection and speed up growth. These practices need to be stopped now.

And as I personally witnessed MRSA with a member of my family. I Totally Agree Eileen it is a devastating infection and very very lengthy recovery

Paddy, I can personally vouch for the staff in CUH washing their hands before and after coming into my isolation room when I had MRSA.

Hey Barry , I have been there too . And I thank goodness for the staff ( ALL of them) who looked after my Mam, and yes it is on the skin,in the nose,around the groin area ,hands, and as the article says if it gets into the blood stream that is where the problems start. In my opinion the article is not sensational as you suggest . Why is it that the medical profession do not want to talk about it publically ? They treated my mam’s and dealt with it but in my experience they would not say straight out that MRSA was the problem, til we asked them directly.My mam recovered and is very well and medically fit thanks to the hospital staff’s efforts.
Like I said basic hygiene hand washing etc is the best defense.

My mam , was in isolation too , where we all had to wear gloves and aprons, until her eyes were bleeding(terrifying sight) and we had to wear masks too for a time , the medical staff still rejected that it was anything more than an unfortunate infection. Then a friend told me to ask them was it MRSA and it was only then they admitted it . Basic hygiene hand washing is the key to prevention .
http://www.domestos.ie/health-hygiene/infections-viruses/skin-wound-infections.php?WT.srch=1

Sorry to hear about what your mother went through Eileen. I guess we’ve had different experiences. I don’t remember a whole lot when I came out of ICU because of the morphine but as far back as I can remember through my time in hospital the doctors and nurses were honest about it to me and my family. They said that infections (I had many more besides MRSA) were to be expected because rather than just having nose/mouth as avenues of infection, I had been burned on 60% of my body so that was all open to infection.

Bacteria is everywhere. It’s because hospitals use so much sterilisation and antibiotics is the reason why the strains of bacteria commonly found there, e.g. MRSA, are so deadly. I was being pumped full of antibiotics to no effect. It’s the inability to fully treat MRSA because of that trait is what makes it so deadly compared to “regular” infections.

Barry
I am so sorry to hear how you suffered . It must have been awful for you ,I hope you continue to keep well. You are correct , bacteria and infection is every where and that is why hand washing is critical. My mam got ill after an ordinary straight forward hip replacement ,the wound became infected.
You know what Barry even the fact that we are discussing it is good ,and puts it out there.
I am sure the babies will be fine and will be looked after with great care.
You take care too Barry ,it sounds like you are a fighter / survivor. :)

I totally agree Eileen from Personnel experience of many years with a member of my Family A horrendous and devastating infection