Link: NY1: Manhattan.
The city will soon have an easier time tracking drug-resistant staph infections, according to a ruling by the Department of Health.
An official from the Communicable Diseases Bureau at the Department of Health says the ruling will now require labs to report positive test results for MRSA.
The official announcement is expected next week.
This comes in the wake of growing fears about just how prevalent the infection has become in hospital and community settings.
"Not physicians or hospitals, but laboratories that diagnose MRSA have to report it to the Health Department," said Dr. Melissa Marx of the Communicable Disease Bureau. "So that will enable us in the future to be able to track the number of people getting MRSA and look at it by gender, and then eventually we’ll be able to do some targeted interviewing to see what kind of activities are leading to MRSA transmission and getting MRSA. "
