Hospital Insects Harbour Drug-Resistant Bacteria
More than 50 percent of bacteria recovered from flying insects in a group of English hospitals were resistant to one or more antibiotics, posing a potential infection risk to patients, according to a new study. The Aston University study collected almost 20,000 insect samples—including houseflies, 'filth flies' such as bluebottles and greenbottles and a variety of 'drain flies' - from seven NHS hospital sites in England.
Risk for Death After Discharge Increases with Hospital-Acquired MRSA
Researchers found that MRSA bacteremia did not increase the risk for death in hospitalized children compared with methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus Aureus, or MSSA. However, MRSA infections acquired in the hospital were associated with an increased risk for mortality 1 year after discharge. Oren Gordon, MD, PhD, a pediatric infectious disease fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote that two meta-analyses conducted in the early 2000s examined mortality rates of patients with MRSA compared with those with MSSA. However, they wrote that the baseline mortality risk varied considerably in the studies, as did the researchers’ attempts to adjust for potential confounders. Additionally, few pediatric cases were included in these analyses.
