Drug-resistant bacteria are a global problem:

In the United States:

• Two million people each year acquire healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
• 100,000 die as a result (more than AIDS, breast cancer and traffic accidents combined)
• Annual cost to society is $5 billion
• 32% of the population carries Staphylococcus aureus
• 2.3 million people carry MRSA
• 94,000 serious MRSA infections occurred in 2005
• 19,000 patients died from MRSA infection in 2005
• Older people are particularly at risk

In the United Kingdom:

• 5,000 deaths each year from HAIs
• 300,000 patients suffer non-fatal HAIs
• HAIs affect an estimated one in ten UK NHS patients each year
• Annual cost to the UK NHS is £1 billion

In Asia:

• Drug-resistant strains now common in hospitals
• Singapore - 63%
• Korea - 70%
• Japan - 74%
• Taiwan - 82%

MRSA is one of many drug-resistant bacteria that cause serious infections. Life-threatening infections are also caused by Clostridium difficile, vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE), fluoroquinolone-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (FQRP), and multidrug-resistant forms of other pathogens such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Acinetobacter spp. and Salmonella spp.

Tackling the problem of MRSA

Given the limitations of treating MRSA infections with existing antibiotics, increasing emphasis is being placed on prevention, with screening and decolonisation taking their place alongside increased levels of hygiene. Routine screening and decolonisation of patients is now an established part of many infection control protocols and has been shown to be highly effective in preventing infection.

• In the USA, as of October 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare services will no longer reimburse hospitals for costs associated with certain avoidable healthcare-associated infections
• In the UK, routine MRSA screening will now be mandatory for all patients being admitted to NHS hospitals
• In the Netherlands, years of routine screening, decolonisation and isolation has kept MRSA prevalence below one per cent – a fraction of the levels seen in countries without such infection control policies

Unfortunately, increased use of existing antibiotics for prevention may lead to increased resistance – a vicious circle. New antibacterials are urgently needed to which resistance will not develop. Such products would revolutionise infection control and offer reliable prevention of infection.