Helsinki hospitals hit by MRSA epidemic

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria causes seven serious cases of blood poisoning

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Health officials in the Helsinki region are concerned about the spread of an antibiotic-resistant strain of the MRSA staphylococcus bacteria in hospitals of the City of Helsinki and the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS). The infection rate reached nearly epidemic proportions in July, when 80 patients were infected. In June there were 50.
      This year more than 230 cases of MRSA infection were reported in the HUS region. Over half of these were wound infections which are very difficult to treat. Seven of the cases involved serious blood poisoning.
      HUS head physician Jaakko Karvonen notes that the situation has deteriorated considerably in the summer months. Until the summer about ten MRSA infections were diagnosed at HUS hospitals each month.
      However, Karvonen also points out that in spite of the surge, the MRSA situation in Finland is considerably better than in hospitals in many other countries, where the bacteria are simply taken as a fact of life. He says that the infection rate in Finland is just a fraction of what it is in Britain and Central Europe. In addition to Finland, the situation is reasonably well under control in the other Nordic Countries and in The Netherlands.
     
To keep the epidemic from reaching the proportions it has in many other countries, HUS doctors plan to propose an anti-MRSA programme to the HUS board of directors on Wednesday.
      "We will ask for more money, because without money it will not be possible to reduce the epidemic", says Karvonen.
      In addition to patients with symptoms, more than 5,000 people have been exposed to MRSA. An estimated five percent of those who have been exposed are carriers of the bacteria.
      The vast majority of those who are exposed to MRSA are without symptoms.
     
The summer epidemic is partly linked with a smaller epidemic at the Töölö Hospital in Helsinki last autumn. Karvonen says that a shortage of isolation treatment at hospitals is partly to blame for the outbreak.
      The situation was made worse by the nine-week closure of the isolation ward of Aurora Hospital. The move was taken partly because of a shortage of personnel, and partly to cut costs. The ward will open again on August 30.
      The situation was also exacerbated by the large number of transfers of patients between HUS hospitals.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  MRSA bacteria continue to spread in Helsinki hospitals (12.11.2003)
  Bacteria resistant to all antibiotics spreading in Helsinki hospital (20.10.2003)
  Serious hospital infections continue to spread in Finland; situation better than in many other European countries (14.10.2002)

Links:
  Association of Medical Microbiologists: Facts about MRSA

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