MRSA infection rates have fallen by 7% compared with 2006, latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show.

SCIENTISTS studying the workings of a potentially fatal superbug have made a huge breakthrough that they hope will help identify patients most susceptible to infection.

THE State is spending at least €150 million a year on the treatment of the MRSA superbug when it could be spending the money on prevention.

HEALTH experts have called for urgent action to limit antibiotic use in hospitals and the community as superbugs other than MRSA show growing resistance to treatment.

HEALTH officials have warned the winter vomiting bug, which has shut down wards in up to 17 hospitals, is a new strain that has been causing chaos in hospitals worldwide for the past four years.

ALMOST half of Irish hospitals are without key personnel central to the detection of the potentially fatal MRSA superbug.

An expert with the National Disease Surveillance Centre has reportedly identified hospital overcrowding as one of the main reasons for the spread of the MRSA “superbug”.

ANTIBIOTIC-RESISTANT superbugs are killing patients, Dr Robert Cunney of the National Disease Surveillance Centre claimed yesterday.

CHILDREN under the age of four are at most risk from a potentially fatal flu virus, according to figures released yesterday.

THE Irish Nurses’ Organisation (INO) has warned that A&E services will be stretched beyond breaking point in hospitals if an outbreak of influenza which is sweeping the country gets worse.

HOSPITALS are to receive stringent guidelines to eliminate the risk of patients contracting CJD through infected surgical equipment.