A new study on MRSA shows that it is 10x more prevalent than previously thought, which may make it responsible for 40k to 100k deaths a year.
Chicago Tribune on MRSA
There is considerable uncertainty about the mortality rate associated with MRSA, however, and it may be as high as 10 percent, said Dr. Lance Peterson, director of infectious disease research at Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. Using the new estimates, that suggests as many as 119,000 hospital patients a year may be felled by the superbug.
To put that figure in context, the Institute of Medicine has estimated that nearly 100,000 patients die of 2 million infections acquired in hospitals every year. MRSA constituted only a portion of those infections and deaths. The new numbers suggest the actual number of hospital-related infections and deaths could be much larger.
As another interesting tidbit on this whole topic, in Norway and Sweden, hospital acquired infections have been reduced to nearly zero. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is working on improving quality control in American hospitals by using some pilot projects at various hospitals to get these levels down to nearly zero. I think personally that the medical profession has gotten too used to these infections and just assumes they're inevitable, and not such a big deal because they can always just use antibiotics. Those of us who have experienced c diff know, however, that antibiotics are not without risk and that some of us can no longer take them. I think it's really important to get the medical establishment to pay more attention, so that people who go to the hospital don't end up sicker than they came in.