UK Deaths from C-Diff shown above. USA is worse still.
MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, are bacteria that can’t be treated with common antibiotics. They are often harmless as they ride on the skin, but become deadly once they get in the bloodstream. They enter through wounds, intravenous lines and other paths.
C-diff, also resistant to some antibiotics, is found in the colon and can cause diarrhea and a more serious intestinal condition known as colitis. It is spread by spores in feces. The spores are difficult to kill with most conventional household cleaners or alcohol-based hand sanitizers, so some of the disinfection measures against MRSA don’t work on C-diff.
Deaths from C-diff traditionally have been rare, but a more dangerous form has emerged in the last ten years. Still, MRSA is generally considered a more lethal threat, causing an estimated 18,000 U.S. deaths annually
Hospitals are also billing the uninsured up to 12 times what they bill the insurance companies of insured people.
Their business model seems more like organized crime.
Protecting ourselves from the little things, that WE COULD survive. with drugs and such.
Tends to make Bacteria STRONGER.
We are loosing much of our natural immunity to our OWN environment.
Its coming to the point, where a scratch can become infected, rather then blistering/scabbing and going away.
there is an OLD science, that is looking at LETTING bacteria FIGHT bacteria. Both in the body and out.
I will give you an experiment.
Go out into your yard.
KILL all the insects.
Soon, you have more. WHY?
Because all your neighbors have them. and they see an OPEN area with no other insects there. insted of dealing with the BUGS you had, you NOW have a NEW assortment.
The same happens with Bacteria.
YOU NEED IT..
If you kill it, you are OPEN to OTHER bacteria. NOT always good for you.
The way we use MEDS is to WIPE OUT most of your protections, trying to kill whats causing the problem. Which can leave you open to MORE problems.
WE need a better way. BEFORE we create our OWN death by a scratch..
Yep, War of the Worlds is still being fought what with the average human body having 10 times more virus and bacteria cells than human.
It would be “nice” to avoid hospitals and doctors offices if you could but given doctors have a monopoly on medicine, they serve themselves rather than their patients.
Best system in the world.
Don’t worry folks, Obama and the Democrats will soon fix all that ails us when they pass 2000+ pages/~1 trillion dollar health care bill that no one really knows what exactly it will do. But as Nancy Pelosi said, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.”
Bugs don’t kill people, people kill people. (No apologies needed for this NRA ad rip-off)
Like Banks, Hospitals want to make risk-free profits. Hospitalization related infection rates won’t change until Hospitals have incentives too!
Health care, is not a Market priced service. Higher cost does not drive lower consumption, that is; people do not get heather with higher medical costs!!
What profit motive do Hospital have for reducing their Hospitalization related infection rates?? Do they not get paid more for treating the infection they caused???
If markets are so “be all end all” perfect, why are Hospitalization related death infection rates climbing?? (let me guess, it’s those skanky Obama Democrats killing people)
Re:The warden… then I suggest you listen to Obama’s speech, aired yesterday. It was reasonably transparent and informative. There are probably other concise summaries on the net as well.
Oh god I love evolution (snicker).
And in the process the hospital can charge you $25 for an aspirin, $400 each for 5 minute ‘visits’ by a parade of doctors that that just poke their head in the door and nod, $150 per meal for green watery jello.
Insurance companies don’t complain because they have a cozy arrangement with the hospitals: “We don’t complain and you settle the bill for 1/10th of it’s original value”, but individuals without insurance are charged full rate.
I know what we should do to reduce healthcare costs… we should limit the liability of the hospitals for all deaths and infections that take place on their premises due to their negligence. Then the prices will go down!
You want really low prices… deregulate medicine outright. A doctor with a diploma from Joe’s Medical school in Nigeria should be just fine as long as he has a diploma… oh wait, no diploma needed… let the hospital decide if a diploma is needed for employment as a doctor.
The free market should rule! If a hospital has lots of people dying in it, word will get out and people won’t go there. But whatever you do, you MUST limit the liability of hospitals in order to contain prices!
What a great example of what the private, for-profit, over-paid CEO Driven HMOs bring to “Patient Care” !!! PROFITS OVER PEOPLE !!! Government “Death Panels” ? No, PRIVATE PROFIT-MONGERS GIVING THUMBS UP OR DOWN !!! What “FINGER” WILL THEY GIVE YOU ?
Science: this trend is due to ever increasing strength and antibiotic resistance of these bugs. No matter how well you keep clean conditions, if bacteria has ability to survive bleach and such for long times while once contracted it can’t be killed by antibiotics – you are in the pickle.
Who is guilty: insane “sanitary” practices of average Americans. You can’t use antibiotics and antiseptics everywhere all the time. Or you’ll train the “superbugs”. Recently in an interview one famous photographer stated that he takes “preventative” antibiotic (he specified amoxicillin) every day when he travels. Thanks to people with so “sane” antibiotic use well soon have even more even stronger bugs to fight with. Not only at hospitals but everywhere else.
Good practices: take antibiotics only if seriously sick; stop using any “antiseptic” products except to treat wounds; train your own immune systems by eating with dirty hands sometimes, interacting with domestic animals closely (pet that dog you see someone walking on the street); …
Maybe a bit of arithmetic is needed here to clear the fog from government besotted brains.
UK 6500 deaths out of 61 million population
US 18,000 deaths out of 309 million
so let’s see… divide, carry over the…
UK 106 deaths/million
US 58 deaths/million
Yes, I’d say it’s an excellent example of government health care in action.
#11,
you mean only 18000 people died in the USA?? last year?? That isnt even 1%..With a growth rate at ABOUT 2, we should be going up population wise, about 30,000,000 per year.
I think you have the wrong numbers.
The germaphobes have made these giants and its seems one their will be one we cannot kill. Antibiotics have simply been over used and its probably everybodies fault.
-ahhhh yup…i can attest to this..
In 1986 i got MRSA while in ICU for a different issue..
End result: by 1995 two femoral head resections and half my pelvis disintegrated…and i used my right leg below the knee to rebuild what was left of my butt.
One thing is for sure.. i have THE UGLIEST ASS this side of the Mississippi. -and well, you could say i have my foot permanently up my ass..
—-
In my case Cipro knocked it out of me in two weeks, whereas the 11 months prior administration of vancomycin and gentamycin did squat..
The rise in infection rate is stupid simple to explain: -money. -and hiring standards dropped through the floor. “oh look, he/she has a pulse, -YOUR HIRED”
Back in the 80’s 90’s, hospitals were always big on sterile technique when dealing with practically anything..very costly. -and they had “real” RN’s that loved their job..and lot’s of’ em. (5-7 on average for 25-35 patients.
Nowadays a “just barely” *clean technique* is standard practice and you often have two or three “real” RN’s supervising a bunch of half illiterate LPN’s that are in it for the money, not because they love caring for the sick.. -on a floor of 25-35 patients..
that’s just for starters..
-s
#11 I’m not sure what the numbers represent but the US figure looks like the number of MRSA deaths in 2005 which would fit the article’s title.
Following is from Wikipedia so I don’t know how much you can trust them, but you can follow the references.
MRSA deaths in hospital
US 18,650 = 27 deaths per million population
UK 1,629 = 60 deaths per million
Hardly a triumph for anyone really but raw numbers suggest to me that for MRSA at least the UK Is not doing too badly.
US population is reported as being 308 million and UK population is 61 Million.
The article also says the UK has had MRSA since 1961 where the US has only had it since 1981.
I can’t say whether that is significant or not, but assume that the longer it’s been around the more of a problem it is likely to be.