A total of 189 patients in the main Dublin teaching hospitals were last year identified as having methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - the so-called superbug - in bloodstream infections.
The figures released last night by the Dublin Area Teaching Hospitals, which include the Mater, Beaumont, St James's, Tallaght and St Vincent's, come as a new report has found that MRSA was widespread in Irish hospitals and increasingly common in other healthcare facilities such as nursing homes.
An earlier report into the incidence of the condition for the four years from 1999 to 2002 indicated that, on average, there were around 300 cases of MRSA annually across 19 of the country's main hospitals.
MRSA is a bacterium that can reside on the skin or can be found in the nose of about one third of healthy individuals. It causes problems when it gains access to deep tissue such as broken skin (causing surgical site or wound infection), the bloodstream or the lungs.
The draft recommendations on the control of MRSA, drawn up by the SARI group (Strategy for the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance in Ireland) urge that hospitals and healthcare institutions take steps to avoid overcrowding and to ensure adequate space between beds.
They urge greater hygiene control, recommending hand washing by staff before and after each patient contact, and more prudent use of antibiotics.
The document proposes that hospitals should have a minimum of one isolation room for every six to seven acute general bed and every four to six critical-care beds.
The Irish Patients' Association yesterday expressed alarm at the degree to which MRSA has become prevalent in hospitals in Ireland.
The association said that there was an onus on hospitals to reassure patients being admitted for treatment that the facilities were clean and good hygiene practices were being followed.
The main Dublin teaching hospitals told The Irish Times last night that 189 patients last year were identified as having MRSA in bloodstream infection, which they maintained was the only standardised test.
The hospitals said that death due to directly to MRSA was "uncommon".
A spokesman for the hospitals said that there had been no deaths attributed to MRSA last year.
In their statement the Dublin teaching hospitals said:
MRSA affects only a minority of people and most of these will not get an actual infection;
those affected can be treated successfully in many cases.
people do not catch MRSA in hospitals only, but may acquire MRSA in the community.
The hospitals said that MRSA infections reported by a hospital may not necessarily have been acquired at that hospital.
"This point is of particular concern to the Dublin Area Teaching Hospitals as in their role as the country's leading tertiary hospitals they receive referrals from other acute hospitals and care centres".
The Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey last night challenged the Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Ms Harney, to spell out what had been achieved under a €16 million fund provided to health boards since 2001 to control anti-microbial resistance.
