Bacteria kept out of N.Z. hospitals

Press, 5 December 1985, Page 48

Bacteria kept out of N.Z. hospitals

PA Dunedin New Zealand hospitals appear to have so far warded off bacteria which are plaguing Australian hospital care. The bacteria, a staphylococcus known as M.R.S.A., have cost Australian hospitals many millions of dollars and caused occasional deaths.

Dr Robin Smallwood, vice-dean of the faculty of anaesthetists of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said in Dunedin that M.R.S.A. were “in plague proportions in our hospital system in Victoria and in many other states.” “Mercifully it hasn’t produced an equivalent number of major infection problems, but for susceptible patients it is very nasty. It is a killer.” he said.

Attempts at isolation and extra anti-infection

measures had increased linen costs at his hospital by over ?2 million a year and cleaning costs had also increased dramatically, said Dr Smallwood.

Professor Barry Baker, of the Otago Medical School’s department of anaesthesia and intensive care, said the bacteria were not yet a serious problem in New Zealand.

“That is not to say it won’t become one,” he said. At Dunedin Hospital three “mild outbreaks” had been isolated and controlled. Many other New Zealand hospitals have had similar experiences.

Dr Jim Judson, a critical care specialist at Auckland Hospital, said the bug had been seen once or twice but had been controlled. The bacteria are most likely to affect people in intensive care.