MRSA Superbug Strain Kills Two

“A form of the superbug MRSA has killed patients in a British hospital for the first time, public health officials said today. Two people - a patient and a healthcare worker - died in September at a West Midlands hospital after contracting the aggressive strain of MRSA, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said. An investigation by the HPA, which monitors infectious diseases, found eight people tested positive for Panton-Valentine Leukocidin community-associated MRSA, commonly known as PVL. Four of those people developed an infection, two of whom subsequently died. In a statement today the agency said: ‘This outbreak is the first time transmission and deaths due to this strain are known to have occurred in a healthcare setting in England and Wales.’ Most MRSA infections in UK hospitals occur in frail elderly patients, but PVL commonly affects healthy young people, though usually in the community. Angela Kearns, of the HPA, said the most commons symptoms of PVL infections were minor skin infections, such as boils and pimples, which could be treated successfully with everyday antibiotics. But occasionally PVL led to a more severe infection, including a form of pneumonia that could kill in 24 hours…”