Infections caused by a highly drug-resistant superbug are on the rise at Mater Dei Hospital, with two patients a day being infected or identified as carriers, according to data gathered by the hospital’s infection control department.

The incidence of the deadly and contagious bacterium klebsiella pneumoniae is not as high as the 2011 outbreak, but data shows a spike during the last quarter of 2014, especially in intensive care.

“If MRSA was a superbug, this is a super-superbug,” head of the infection control department Michael Borg explained.

“It’s a problem across the world but in the Mediterranean it is more problematic than in other regions such as, say, Scandinavia.

“It is very difficult to treat because it is extremely resistant to antibiotics. The most important thing is to avoid it through the same method used for MRSA – good hand hygiene, use of alcohol rubs and proper antibiotics use.”

Dr Borg’s team has just been given the Hand Hygiene Excellence Award 2015 by the University Hospitals of Geneva, which is a World Health Organisation (WHO) collaborating centre on patient safety.

Through intensive hand hygiene campaigns, training, education and audits of practices, the team has helped to drastically slash MRSA blood infections from three patients every two weeks in 2009 to one patient a month.

If MRSA was a superbug, this is a super-superbug

This has been a major positive outcome, especially in view of the fact that Malta has one of the highest rates of MRSA carriers in the world.

Dr Borg explained that between 10 to 15 per cent of individuals admitted to hospital were already unknowingly carrying the MRSA bacterium before they even set foot in Mater Dei. The bacterium can be present on the body of the patient without causing any symptoms of infection.

Within the community, between six and eight per cent of healthy individuals carry MRSA – foreign medical literature rarely puts the percentage beyond 0.5 per cent.

Health Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne congratulates the head of the infection control unit, Michael Borg, and his team for winning the hand hygiene award. Photos: Jason BorgHealth Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne congratulates the head of the infection control unit, Michael Borg, and his team for winning the hand hygiene award. Photos: Jason Borg

The high incidence of MRSA prevalence within the community could be attributed to the fact that Malta is a small and densely populated country, as well as to extensive antibiotics use, Dr Borg said.

The infection control unit supports the hospital in helping its staff reduce the risk of infection rates. All healthcare professionals should wash their hands with an alcohol rub before and after coming into contact with every patient.

However, this vital and basic step can be easily ignored.

Infection control nurse Noel Abela helped carry out interviews with Mater Dei staff to gauge the reason why they did not wash their hands with an alcohol hand rub as often as they should.

Lack of time was cited as one of the main reasons as well as the fact that they did not see any immediate effects. The importance of hand hygiene was not as emphasised during doctors’ training as much as it was during nurses’ training, the team discovered.

Abroad, patients were also encouraged to remind the healthcare staff treating them to wash their hands. Malta doesn’t seem to be ready for such an approach yet, he noted.

However, health hygiene compliance has improved so much that the hospital now goes through 3,000 to 4,000 alcohol rub bottles a month, as opposed to 1,000 bottles a month in 2008.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.