Link: BMJ.
Canadian hospitals are failing to control infections resistant to antibiotics. These kill 8000 patients and cost healthcare systems at least $C100m (?40m; $80m; {euro}63m) a year. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, in a news investigation, has said that the incidence of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has increased 10-fold in less than a decade (www.cbc.ca/news, 21 March). It also said that since 2003 Clostridium difficile has killed more than 600 people in Quebec province alone.
If cases of necrotising fasciitis, the third most common hospital infection, are added, more than 250 000 Canadians are getting ill from preventable infections every year, says the corporation.
Canadian hospitals have fewer regulations for controlling infection than restaurants, says the broadcaster. Many hospitals do not even have the required minimum number of staff needed to combat infections.
