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More MRSA news

Infection Control Monitor, October 19, 2007

An invasive form of MRSA is being blamed for the death of a Virginia teenager on Monday, October 15. The 17-year-old high school student died after a weeklong hospitalization from a MRSA infection that spread quickly to his kidneys, liver, lungs, and the muscle around his heart, according to news reports.

There have been five reported cases of MRSA in the school system this fall, The Roanoke Times reported, and the student's death prompted officials to close 21 schools on Wednesday for a thorough cleaning of the facilities. It is not clear where the infections originated, but school officials told the newspaper they did not want to take any chances.

Also this week, Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, called for hospitals to begin publishing their compliance rates for handwashing. Lisa McGiffert, Director of Consumers Union's "Stop Hospital Infections" campaign, said the new JAMA study only reinforced the need for basic standards of handwashing. "This study just accentuates that the hospital is ground zero, that this is where dangerous infections are occurring that are killing people every day," she told The New York Times.

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