Mrsa: It's Even Worse Than You Think ; Special Investigation: There Are 14 Times More Cases Than the Nhs Admits. Deaths Are Up by at Least 22%. And Simple Solutions Are Being Ignored by Health Chiefs. No Wonder Labour's Trying to Spin Its Way Out of Trouble . . .

Daily Mail › January 16, 2007

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Summary

OVER the past weeks and months, the subject of MRSA has never been far from Claire Rayner's mind.

It's not just that as president of the Patients Association the topic dominates her in-tray, so much as the fact that last October she was struck down by the superbug for the third time in five years.

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Mrsa: It's Even Worse Than You Think ; Special Investigation: There Are 14 Times More Cases Than the Nhs Admits. Deaths Are Up by at Least 22%. And Simple Solutions Are Being Ignored by Health Chiefs. No Wonder Labour's Trying to Spin Its Way Out of Trouble . . .

Claire, who is 76, tripped at home, fell over and cut her leg. She was taken by ambulance to her local accident and emergency department for stitches.

'I sat there for four hours with a huge open wound before anyone came to deal with me,' says the celebrated agony aunt, who is herself a trained nurse.

'When I woke up the following day, it was obvious that something was wrong. My leg was heavily swollen. I took one look and knew I had an infection.'

Tests showed that Claire was suffering from not one healthcare- associated infection (HCAI) but two - MRSA and pseudomonas. Both prevented the wound from healing and both required treatment with powerful antibiotics which, three months on, Claire is still having to take.

'It has been a bloody nuisance...

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