Superbug scandal - MRSA shame highlights ailing system

Professor Brendan Drumm, head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) candidly stated the superbug, MRSA, or methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, would never be fully wiped out in our hospitals.

It is so difficult to tackle at this point that a concerted five-year programme would be unlikely to cut the prevalence of the bug by more than 20%. It seems strange that he should suggest something as fundamental as hospital staff washing their hands as the first step in tackling the problem, seeing that the bug is passed on mostly through hand contact.

The problem was highlighted this week with a second death attributed to MRSA. There is already talk about a likely epidemic of litigation as people sue our hospitals for the transmission of MRSA through neglect, because of the failure of so many hospitals to implement 1995 guidelines to deal with the problem.