Call for urgent action after MRSA deaths

An MRSA support group called today for urgent action after the superbug killed seven hospital patients in the last 10 days.

The victims, from separate hospitals, ranged in age from 50 to 75 and came from several counties across Ireland.

The MRSA and Families support group said there was an urgent need to combat the superbug.

Founder Margaret Dawson said: “We don’t need something in 2006, we need something now. People are maimed for life, people are dying and people’s lives are ruined, yet there is nothing there to say we have an epidemic in Irish hospitals.”

She said patients had to be tested for MRSA before they were admitted to hospital and a much greater emphasis on hand-washing and infection control was needed.

MRSA is the term for bacteria resistant to one or more conventional antibiotics. It can be passed on by skin-to-skin contact and can cause severe infections in hospital patients.

Ms Dawson, whose husband contracted the superbug in a Dublin hospital last year, said she had spoken to a number of people infected with MRSA, including a young man who was suicidal.

“There is nothing out there for families and patients. There is no direct link for them. We need counselling for them and we need a free phone line so people can make contact,” she told RTE radio.

The Health Services Executive said that while it did not have exact figures for the number of people who died from MRSA, it was possible that seven people had died from the superbug in the last 10 days.

Assistant national director of population health Dr Kevin Kelleher said around €20m is being invested in the next four months to combat MRSA.

He said: “The situation is improving. We’ve set up a clean hands campaign and distributed posters and information on that.”

He said that solving the problem would be a slow and difficult process.