- Seattle PI: U.S. pigs and farmers carry MRSA but federal food safety agencies are doing little to see if the pork is safe (January 27, 2009)
- MRSA series: Culture of Resistance (November 21, 2008)
News
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Lax Needle Use in Clinics Raises Alarm
The focuses on the dangers of health care workers reusing needles.
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Bill aims to stop spread of MRSA in hospitals
Representative Campbell’s legislation is an attempt to force hospitals to track drug-resistant MRSA infections and slow the bacteria’s spread
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Editorial: Ending a culture of resistance to MRSA screening
“Aggressive screening halts the spread of MRSA. Rather than fighting lawmakers, the Washington State Medical Association ought to encourage its 9,000 physician members to get behind mandatory screening.”
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Seemingly simple surgery leaves mom with devastating complications
Hysterectomy operation leads to necrotizing fasciitis..
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MRSA: Patients revolt against hospital secrecy
MRSA: Consumers have launched a battle against hospital secrecy and demanded aggressive steps to control infections like MRSA. But in Washington state, MRSA rates remain hidden and state initiatives to combat the drug-resistant germ have come up short.
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How our hospitals unleashed a MRSA epidemic
MRSA, a drug-resistant germ, lurks in Washington hospitals, carried by patients and staff and fueled by inconsistent infection control. This stubborn germ is spreading here at an alarming rate, but no one has tracked these cases ― until now.
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Editorial: Medicare to Slash Payments for Medical Errors
And in another development, federal officials late last week approved a new company to begin inspections as part of its often criticized hospital accreditation program.
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Hand Washing: Time Well Spent
We Need Carrots and Sticks to Reduce Infection Rates.
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FDA Panel Considers Toll-Free Number for TV Drug Ads
Direct-to-consumer drug ads on television should include a toll-free phone number that would allow consumers to report adverse side effects, U.S. health experts suggested Friday.
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The FDA Needs Help
The heparin scare revealed problems the agency says it can fix. But it won’t tell Congress how much that will cost.
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White House Vetting Product-Safety Candidates
The White House is considering a scientist who has frequently testified and written on behalf of the energy, pesticide and tobacco industries to chair the nation’s chief product-safety regulator.
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Drug-Resistant Staph Germ’s Toll Is Higher Than Thought
MRSA is killing more people in the United States each year than the AIDS virus.
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Getting The Bugs Out
VA and MD hospitals vary on applying practices used to prevent surgical infections.
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Drug-resistant staph on the rise
MRSA infections have increased exponentially in the past decade.
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Hospital infections reporting bill close to becoming law
Washington Senate passes hospital infection reporting bill unanimously.
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Editorial: Hospital safety: More sunshine
Washington legislators are within reach of setting up a farsighted program to encourage control of hospital infections.
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Washington state bill aims to cut hospital infection rates
Washington state lawmakers are considering a bill to require all medical care facilities to report their infection rates.
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Bid to cut hospital infections gains traction in legislature
A bill requiring public reporting of hospital infections is expected to pass the Washington House soon.
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Studies: Hospitals could do more to avoid infections
Hospital infections arise mainly from poor hygiene in hospital procedures, not from how sick patients were when they were admitted.
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FDA Is Criticized Over Drugs’ Safety Problems
The Food and Drug Administration is sometimes too slow in picking up safety problems once drugs are on the market and in responding to emerging danger signals, a federal study concluded in a report to be released today.
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Stomach Bug Mutates Into Medical Mystery
Bacterial infection (Clostridium difficile) striking young, otherwise healthy Americans, appears to be spreading rapidly around the country and causing unusually severe, sometimes fatal illness
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Deadly Hospital Germ Is Spreading in U.S.
A new, more dangerous strain of a germ that has long caused diarrhea in hospital patients is now widespread in the United States, causing severe, sometimes deadly outbreaks around the country, researchers reported yesterday.
Source: Washington Post (Dec. 2, 2005)
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Chronic Condition: The waste in Medicare spending
In this three-part series, the Washington Post takes a look at how bad practices net hospitals more Medicare money, how the agency that accredits hospital overlooks problems, and how private Quality Improvement Organizations working for the Medicare agency operate in secret and have a cozy relationship with doctors and health care facilities.
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Data show scourge of hospital infections
Nearly 12,000 Pennsylvanians contracted hospital infections in 2004, costing an additional $2 billion in care and resulting in 1,500 deaths, according to a state report.
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Maryland May Track Infections Contracted in Hospitals
Lawmakers in Maryland are considering legislation to require hospitals to disclose their infection rates.
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FDA Is Flexing Less Muscle
In the past four years, the Food and Drug Administration has taken a noticeably less aggressive approach toward policing drugs that cause harmful side effects. It has some leading some lawmakers, academics and consumer advocates complaining that the agency is focused more on bolstering the pharmaceutical industry than protecting public health.