Put your hand up if you thought that hygiene, hand-washing and other infection control measures are key to controlling the spread of superbugs in healthcare facilities.
Certainly a lot of effort has gone into a wide variety of measures to stop drug-resistant bacteria spreading in hospitals – including a ban on long sleeves and ties; the use of antibacterial materials for surfaces, fixtures and fittings; rigorous hand hygiene regimes among both medical staff and visitors; and scrupulous disinfection routines. And there is no doubt that the incidence of HAIs has declined.
But the relationship between antibiotics, MRSA and hospital hygiene has become even more complicated following a study by St George’s, University of London. It seems that cleaning and hand-washing regimes have only a small effect on reducing MRSA infection rates; rather, the decline is due to a change in prescribing practices for the fluoroquinolone family of antibiotics, notably ciprofloxacin.
The results of the study, which also surprised the authors, suggest that MRSA relies on fluoroquinolones to thrive in hospitals and that the most effective way to control hospital-based superbugs is to continue finding alternative ways to use antibiotics, rather than simply focusing on infection control techniques.
But far from negating the industry’s efforts to make hospitals healthier places, this study simply puts into place another piece of the jigsaw, enabling the healthcare sector to see more of the bigger picture surrounding HAIs and develop suitably multifaceted long-term strategies for controlling them.
