The State’s health services watchdog says more needs to be done to protect patients from the growing superbug threat.

A woman died in hospital after contracting what were described yesterday as two ‘hospital superbugs’ at the South Infirmary/Victoria Hospital almost nine years ago. And yesterday the family of the deceased was awarded €50,000.

Superbugs thought to have spread from animals have smashed through the last line in antibiotic defences and pose a global threat, scientists say.

Trinity College scientists believe they have identified specific cells in the immune system that may help in the development of a viable vaccine for MRSA.

In 2005, Michael Gibbons was in a helicopter crash. He survived but his two best friends died. It was two years before he walked again but he tells Ailin Quinlan it thaught him to ’dance in the rain’.

An alternative to antibiotics to combat superbugs, such as MRSA, looks promising, according to a leading Irish microbiologist.

Scientists believe they have found an alternative to antibiotics which could be used to combat superbugs such as MRSA.

SASSENACH’ PIPER

The world is entering a post-antibiotic era in which common infections and minor injuries can kill, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned.

One of the country’s leading maternity hospitals is potentially putting vulnerable patients’ health at risk due to ongoing hygiene problems on its wards.

Four new national clinical guidelines are being drawn up following the death of Savita Halappanavar in a Galway hospital last year.

New clinical guidelines have been launched to prevent the spread of a potential killer hospital superbug.

Failure to identify delirium in patients can accelerate death or potentially lead to dementia if left untreated — yet the majority of medics lack the expertise to diagnose the “cognitive superbug”.

The fear that up to 100,000 people could lose medical cards due to the Government’s plan to cut €660m from funding for the Department of Health is leading to a considerable degree of anxiety among older vulnerable people. This seems to be a perennial problem for successive governments.

The equivalent of one person develops a potentially fatal hospital superbug bloodstream infection every four hours, figures revealed after a series of damning health service hygiene reports have shown.

The first case of has been identified of livestock-associated MRSA in the country.

On-farm usage of preventative vaccines has trebled in the past 10 years, according to global market research specialist GFK.

Farmers, vets and other animal health professionals are signing up to new guidelines on the responsible on-farm use of animal medicines.

A consultant dermatologist failed to take skin biopsies from a number of his patients and failed to diagnose certain conditions or provide adequate treatments, a Medical Council hearing heard yesterday.

The parents of 24 babies are waiting to find out if their children are free from the infection that caused the deaths of three newborns at a hospital.

A DISEASE that affects mainly young children and can be spread by drinking contaminated water had higher infection rates in Ireland than in 29 other European countries in 2009, according to a new report.

THERE are fears that a new form of the MRSA superbug discovered in two Irish hospitals could share its genetic information with a more virulent strain.

Scientists have found a completely new form of the MRSA superbug in two Dublin hospitals.

JUST four out of 33 intensive care units (ICUs) in hospitals around the country were successfully able to isolate patients with MRSA, a new survey has found.

A FOLLOW-UP investigation at a nursing home revealed some unacceptable practices — despite earlier warnings of residents being at risk from elder abuse.

A FOLLOW-UP investigation at a nursing home revealed some unacceptable practices — despite earlier warnings of residents being at risk from elder abuse.

Scientists are a step closer to finding a cure for MRSA, experts said today.

ALMOST 10 years after a strategy was launched to deal with the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance in Ireland, Ennis General Hospital is set to become Ireland’s first fully SARI compliant facility for inpatient accommodation.

SIXTY years ago nearly every small town in Ireland had its own small hospital. In those days we never heard of MRSA.

CANCER patients should be cared for in single en suite rooms because of their increased vulnerability to healthcare-associated infections, medical experts insisted yesterday.

WHILE the rate of hospital-acquired MRSA infections has fallen in Ireland, there is concern at the increase in other bacterial infections that can be resistant to antibiotics, a medical expert warned.

A new report to be launched today estimates that MRSA infection in Irish hospitals costs in excess of €23m annually.

THE parents of a 16-year-old boy who died at the Mater Hospital in Dublin after 72 days in intensive care have lost their High Court bid to overturn a coroner’s verdict that the cause of death was a rare brain disorder due to an underlying condition.

THE organiser of a national remembrance day for people who have died from MRSA has claimed hospitals are still failing to inform patients if they have been infected.

THE father of a brain-damaged mother-of-one, who has been campaigning to bring his daughter home from hospital, has raised up to €170,000 so far.

SOME private nursing homes are failing to meet basic standards for elderly people under their care.

JUDGES will be able to advise juries on the size of damages for libel by the end of next month, it was confirmed last night.

DOCTORS must tell patients they have contracted a healthcare-associated infection, such as MRSA, as soon as possible.

The Royal College of Physicians has said as many as one-in-10 patients contract a hospital-acquired infection like MRSA, but many are never informed of the situation.

AN internal hospital report calling for infection control improvements to prevent a repeat of last year’s deadly clostridium difficile outbreak at University Hospital Galway (UHG) has yet to be implemented six months after it was concluded.

IT is interesting to note the HSE, under its new communications strategy, is seeking advice from Gerald Kean (April 29).

CELEBRITY lawyer Gerald Kean, invited by the Health Service Executive (HSE) to grill its top managers, believes he was approached because he is an outspoken critic of the health service — and not because he “likes a good party”.

WHY patients spend hours on trolleys and whether the Pope is a Catholic are rhetorical questions to which few expect answers.

NEW figures show a 25% drop in MRSA infection rates in hospitals over the past three years.

MRSA figures compiled by the Government are only a fraction of the total number of cases, according to a leading campaigner in the fight against hospital superbugs.

A NEW hygiene product being used by the British NHS to fight MRSA and C difficile will not go on trial here due to a lack of scientific evidence, Health Minister Mary Harney has said.

A CORONER and a jury yesterday recommended that hospitals should “liaise better” when patients were moved from one hospital to another.

THE people of Letterkenny are demanding to know the source of the MRSA outbreak that has affected at least three babies — and led to the screening of babies born in the hospital in the past fortnight.