29,000 Canadian Hospital Patients Infected By MRSA In One-Year Period - Contributed To 2,300 Deaths

[hatrack]

staggering 29,000 Canadian hospital patients acquired the superbug MRSA in a one-year period, including an estimated 2,300 whose deaths were partly attributed to the pernicious bacteria, federal figures released today show.

The increase in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus translates into 12,000 new infections plus 17,000 patients who became colonized, said Andrew Simor, co-chairman of the Canadian Nosocomial Infection Surveillance Program. (Being colonized with MRSA means the patients are carriers who are not infected and show no symptoms.)

"Hospital infections are a major burden to good medical care," said Dr. Simor, who made the projections based on the just-released 2006 rates from 48 hospitals in nine provinces.

As the modern day scourge of the health-care system, hospital-acquired infections such as MRSA afflict 220,000 Canadians each year. The number who die from them - at least 8,000 - is equal to those killed by car accidents and breast cancer combined.

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