The D.C. Council is considering legislation to reduce the spread of drug-resistant staph infection by starting the fight where the bug is most prevalent — in hospitals.
Incidences of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) have spiked recently regionwide, particularly in schools, where dozens of children have been infected by the potentially deadly bacteria.
But the real problem is in hospitals and other health care settings, “where patient-to-patient contact by doctors, nurses and unsterilized equipment can lead to transition,” Ward 3 D.C. Council Member Mary Cheh said Tuesday.
Cheh and Council Member David Catania on Tuesday introduced legislation requiring all licensed hospitals in the District of Columbia to develop infection prevention programs, starting with those areas most at risk — intensive care or surgical units — and then expanding throughout the facility.
The measure would not only reduce the spread of the bug, Cheh said, but also would “increase attention of this deadly killer.”
Roughly 60 percent of all MRSA infections originate in health facilities, she said.
Nationally, there are about 94,000 cases annually that lead to roughly 19,000 deaths — more than the AIDS virus.
The District had four confirmed cases as of Tuesday, and another 50 or so were reported regionwide Wednesday.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine created a new state regulation Wednesday requiring laboratories to alert the state when a patient tests positive for a drug-resistant strain of staph infection.
The D.C. bill calls for hospitals to identify infected patients by screening for MRSA at admission, to ensure “contact precautions” for patients found to be MRSA-positive, to follow strict hygiene guidelines, to educate their workers and to develop written infection prevention and control policies.
The staph legislation complements a recently adopted D.C. law requiring hospitals to report all adverse incidents, Catania said.
“The simple reporting of these incidents are not enough,” he said. “We need to go a step further, constructing plans to address it.”
