Link: SR.com: Drug-resistant staph on rise.
Nearly 500 people in Washington may have died with or because of MRSA between 2003 and 2005, according to a new review of state death certificate records conducted at the request of The Spokesman-Review.
Analysis by Ann Lima, a state health department researcher, showed that possibly 145 people died in 2003, followed by 169 in 2004 and 168 in 2005 from antibiotic-resistant staph infections, including MRSA.
While state health and medical experts cautioned that the figures have not been validated, they also noted that they may provide a rare glimpse of the mortality associated with MRSA, which is not classified as a reportable infection.
