Record number of serious infections from hospital bacteria last year
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The MRSA hospital bacteria caused a record number of life-threatening serious general infections last year.
A year earlier only five such overall infections with MRSA were recorded, but in 2004 the number more than quadrupled. When the MRSA bacteria get into the bloodstream, such general infections have a mortality rate of between 30 and 40 percent.
To improve the situation, Finnish hospital districts will be able to apply for funds from the EUR 2.2 million earmarked by Parliament for the purpose of prevention of hospital infections.
MRSA bacteria are staphylococcus bacteria that are resistant to the most commonly-used antibiotics. Last year nearly 1,400 people were found with MRSA. The figures have been constantly increasing; in 1995 only 89 cases were found, and in 2003 there were 813.
Most of the infections involved carriers who were without symptoms. Many were residents of homes for the elderly, who had the bacteria on their skin or in their nose, without causing any problems.
Such infections can become dangerous in hospitals, where they can spread via unwashed hands to a patient who is already in poor condition.
There have been increased efforts to detect MRSA in hospitals, but officials believe that the increase in diagnoses reflects an actual increase in infections.
Professor Ville Valtonen of the Meilahti Hospital of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) says that most of the growth is real growth, and not the result of increased diagnostic vigilance.
Professor Valtonen is worried that the bacteria is now being found in so many many different places. The situation is most difficult in the HUS region: last year nearly 600 cases were diagnosed, up from 236 in 2003. However, there have also been outbreaks in the Pirkanmaa and Oulu regions. Individual cases have also been reported elsewhere; the best situation was in Turku.
The situation at HUS facilities is reportedly under control. Although new reported cases declined in the last three months of 2004, there were still 40 new cases diagnosed in December, which means that the epidemic is not yet over.
Some of the Finns evacuated from Thailand after the tsunami have been found to have a Thai strain of MRSA; this has not spread in Finnish hospitals, as patients returning from Thailand were put in isolation specifically because of the risk of MRSA.
MRSA can be fatal if the bacteria get into the bloodstream, causing a general infection akin to blood poisoning. By the end of the year 26 such cases were diagnosed, as against just five in 2003.
Merja Saarinen, an official at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, is very concerned about the sharp growth in MRSA infections of the blood, which now constitute 2.6% of all MRSA diagnoses, up from less than one percent previously.
Officials note that Finland is not alone with the problem.
"It appears that we are catching up with other countries", says Jaana Vuopio-Varkila, head physician of the Hospital Bacteriological Institute of the Finnish Public Health Institute.
"It is not easy to fight against international development", she says.
A year earlier only five such overall infections with MRSA were recorded, but in 2004 the number more than quadrupled. When the MRSA bacteria get into the bloodstream, such general infections have a mortality rate of between 30 and 40 percent.
To improve the situation, Finnish hospital districts will be able to apply for funds from the EUR 2.2 million earmarked by Parliament for the purpose of prevention of hospital infections.
MRSA bacteria are staphylococcus bacteria that are resistant to the most commonly-used antibiotics. Last year nearly 1,400 people were found with MRSA. The figures have been constantly increasing; in 1995 only 89 cases were found, and in 2003 there were 813.
Most of the infections involved carriers who were without symptoms. Many were residents of homes for the elderly, who had the bacteria on their skin or in their nose, without causing any problems.
Such infections can become dangerous in hospitals, where they can spread via unwashed hands to a patient who is already in poor condition.
There have been increased efforts to detect MRSA in hospitals, but officials believe that the increase in diagnoses reflects an actual increase in infections.
Professor Ville Valtonen of the Meilahti Hospital of the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District (HUS) says that most of the growth is real growth, and not the result of increased diagnostic vigilance.
Professor Valtonen is worried that the bacteria is now being found in so many many different places. The situation is most difficult in the HUS region: last year nearly 600 cases were diagnosed, up from 236 in 2003. However, there have also been outbreaks in the Pirkanmaa and Oulu regions. Individual cases have also been reported elsewhere; the best situation was in Turku.
The situation at HUS facilities is reportedly under control. Although new reported cases declined in the last three months of 2004, there were still 40 new cases diagnosed in December, which means that the epidemic is not yet over.
Some of the Finns evacuated from Thailand after the tsunami have been found to have a Thai strain of MRSA; this has not spread in Finnish hospitals, as patients returning from Thailand were put in isolation specifically because of the risk of MRSA.
MRSA can be fatal if the bacteria get into the bloodstream, causing a general infection akin to blood poisoning. By the end of the year 26 such cases were diagnosed, as against just five in 2003.
Merja Saarinen, an official at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, is very concerned about the sharp growth in MRSA infections of the blood, which now constitute 2.6% of all MRSA diagnoses, up from less than one percent previously.
Officials note that Finland is not alone with the problem.
"It appears that we are catching up with other countries", says Jaana Vuopio-Varkila, head physician of the Hospital Bacteriological Institute of the Finnish Public Health Institute.
"It is not easy to fight against international development", she says.
Helsingin Sanomat