Don’t put blame on hospital hygiene

THIS is a terribly shocking and worrying story. Hospitals should have the utmost hygiene standards, but we know from cases of MRSA over the past decade how this can slip, to the detriment and decline of patients.

The cases of MC infections are exceedingly serious but it must be stressed that they are not related to hospital hygiene.

Evidence points to the cause of these lifethreatening infections being bacteria entering the equipment during the manufacturing process, which has led to contamination.

Patients having heartvalve surgery are already extremely vulnerable, and contracting an infection from equipment allows the bacteria to take hold within the bloodstream and also deep within the tissues of the body.

These kinds of deepseated infections are terribly difficult to treat even if the appropriate antibiotics are available, since it is hard for the active drug to reach these areas from the bloodstream.

What is most worrying for patients is the fact that the infection can remain latent after the surgery and not manifest itself for months: very frightening for heartsurgery patients and families who would be oblivious to any underlying problem until it may be too late.