Ireland's MRSA rates down slightly

Ireland's MRSA rates down slightly

The level of MRSA infection in Ireland's hospitals continued to fall last year, but the country still lags behind others in Europe, a new report has revealed.

According to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC), the number of patients contracting MRSA in Ireland fell to 27.1 per cent at the end of 2009.

This was down from 33.7 per cent compared with the previous year-end, but rates are still higher than those in many other European countries, the report stated.

Figures from the Netherlands and the Nordic countries revealed that MRSA levels stood at just three per cent or less during 2009.

Malta and Portugal are currently though to be among the worst-performing countries, with rates of MRSA infection topping 50 per cent in 2008.

However, the HSPC report stressed that the statistics only represent a proportion of the total number of people infected with MRSA across Ireland and Europe, claiming there is still more work to be done to help fight the virus.

Last month, the organisation laid out new guidelines aimed at reducing the number of hospital infections associated with intravascular catheters and managing the use of antibiotics in Irish hospitals.