Infection Prevention and Control

There's been a lot in the news about bacterial resistance to antibiotics - how this is increasing and new antibiotics aren't being developed quickly enough. I had the opportunity to spend some time this week with the Head of Infection Control at Musgrove Park Hospital. Big improvements have been made there in the number of MRSA infections, where they haven't had a case in over 700 days! Also, in C Difficile and Norovirus, there are decreasing numbers of cases. We talked about the importance of the right antibiotic prescribing in preventing C Diff and quick identification of patients with symptoms to allow early isolation. I read recently in New Scientist that it only takes 18 cells of Norovirus to cause an infection, so you can see why it is so contagious and difficult to control in hospital and care-home environments.