Hospital Infections: Past, Present and Future

Predictably, the place where resistant organisms are selectively bred first and most effectively are hospitals. This was so long before micro-organisms were thought of; but it has become more critical with the advent of antibiotics. Age and illness makes the hospital in-patient population exceptionally susceptible to infection. Hospitals have been permeated with antibiotics for fifty years. Nurses and doctors continually move between patients, spreading resistant organisms unless a few elementary precautions are taken. These were second nature fifty years ago. They are no longer. (Watch next time you are in a hospital.)

Today more than 5000 patients die prematurely every year in England from multi-drug-resistant organisms. (The current technical acronym is MRSA's or, for the more severe form, VRSA's.) The figures are rising and rising at an increasing rate. Where will it all end? As in Semmelweis's and Lister's days, informed opinion is divided. Some doctors tacitly think that the menace is exaggerated. Others even more discreetly suspect that, even if not exaggerated., nothing can be done about it. Hospitals have been dangerous places for centuries. After a pleasant but short lull, they will become dangerous places again. Others believe, some passionately, that the danger can and should be eliminated. Patients will always die. They should not die of a disease they catch in hospital.

For more information:

...on disease control download the TV Documentary 'The Flu Time Bomb'
http://www.firstscience.com/home/firstscience.tv/flu-time-bomb_5.html

Video: Antibiotic: Kill or Cure?
Misuse of antibiotics and poor hygiene practices has taken us to the point where certain infections are near unstoppable. Investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre reveals the shocking truth about MRSA.