EASTON - Health investigators are tracking down the source of a powerful bacterial infection linked to the deaths of six elderly patients at Memorial Hospital at Easton.
The patients are among eight infected while in the hospital from late February to the middle of last month. Memorial physicians believe the patients, all of whom were terminally ill, died of their underlying conditions, not the infection.
The bacteria, a resistant form of staph, is one of the most prevalent and dangerous hospital-acquired infections nationwide.
Memorial physicians are working with epidemiologists at the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the Talbot County Health Department to determine the cause of the infection, whether all the cases are connected - and to prevent further spread of the infection.
Meanwhile, public health officials are awaiting test results from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find out whether any of the 187 staff members could be carrying the infection, and whether there could be more than one strain. Samples from the eight patients have also been sent to the CDC for analysis.
The bacteria, called Staphylococcus aureus, is common in most hospitals, particularly teaching institutions. It can be spread by equipment such as stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and bed railings. But studies show it's most often transmitted by hospital staff who have failed to wash their hands after caring for an infected patient.
One recent study found that a significant proportion of nurses and doctors, particularly those wearing wedding rings, had bacteria on their hands.
Staph is commonly found on the skin of healthy people. Sometimes, it gets into the body, causing problems ranging from a pimple to blood infections or pneumonia. But as in Memorial's situation, staph usually affects hospital patients who are very sick or elderly, particularly those with wounds or intravenous catheters.
This particular infection is tough to deal with, because it is resistant to methicillin, the main antibiotic used to treat it. Nationwide, it's become a major problem for hospitals, affecting about 80,000 patients every year, according to the CDC.
First suspicions
Memorial's doctors first became suspicious when routine testing turned up the strain in two patients in the intensive care ward in February. When two other critically ill patients in the eight-bed ICU were found to have the infection, hospital officials alerted local and state health authorities, said Dr. John Swope, vice president for medical affairs.
