Washington Injury Law Blog

An expert panel in Washington has delivered its report that was ordered by Gov. Gregoire. The report was to address better ways to monitor and prevent the dangerous antibiotic resistant MRSA infection.

Gov. Gregoire in November told the state Health Department increase its efforts to track cases of MRSA and better educate the public about ways to prevent the infection. One recommendation in the report is that hospitals conduct infection surveillance to prevent the spread of MRSA infections. Another recommendation is that hospitals monitor the community for MRSA and report all cases to the Washington State Health department. Reporting is not required by the state at this time.

The report contained recommendations for out patient care as well. Among the recommendations where better public education on wound care and infection prevention; adopting guidelines intended to prevent drug resistant organisms; and promoting cautious use of antibiotics.

New threats to our health keep appearing that cannot be treated by the drugs we currently have available. I wonder when the drug companies will make it a real priority to develop new antibiotics to fight these ever increasing dangers?