Concern as eight Irish people infected with virulent MRSA strain

A VIRULENT new strain of MRSA has been detected in Ireland.

MRSA strains carrying the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) genes were detected in eight Irish patients over the last two years two in 2003 and six last year.

PVL strains are responsible for the production of a toxic protein that leaves sufferers unable to fight infections, including fatal necrotising (flesh-eating) pneumonia. The superbug spreads through skin-to-skin contact, appearing as sores that initially look like insect bites.

Doctors are worried because the gene causes the spread of MRSA between healthy people with unbroken skin who would not normally be expected to pick up infections in this way.

A report published by the National MRSA Reference Laboratory in Dublin said four of those found to be infected last year were from one family one was a child with a skin infection while the other three displayed no symptoms.

The other two patients found to have PVL MRSA had skin infections. While an epidemiological link was suspected, it was not proven.

It was also thought unlikely that the eight people who tested positive for PVL in Ireland acquired the superbug while in hospital.

The cases were detected from MRSA blood tests submitted to the National MRSA Reference Laboratory by hospitals participating in the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System.

The Laboratory does not as yet have the resources to offer PVL detection as a routine service but has invited microbiology laboratories throughout Ireland to submit suspect isolates for testing. While PVL strains are resistant to methicillin, they are not multi-antibiotic resistant.

Patient Focus spokesperson Sheila O'Connor said the new, different strains of MRSA now spreading among healthy people in the community underlined the need to keep hospitals free of the bugs.

"We have talked with health professionals who warned us that it was more than just MRSA that has been responsible for such terrible suffering endured by people of all ages," she said.

"We always thought that what we are dealing with is more than just MRSA because people are dying from it. Their bodies are closing down because of the infection," she said.

Patient Focus recently sent letters to 60 acute hospitals throughout Ireland asking them about their experience of MRSA and how they are dealing with it. The campaign group is anxious to know about their MRSA policy and the steps being taken to prevent patients from being infected.