VA Hospital Dramatically Lowers Its MRSA Rate

A Veterans Affairs hospital that screens all new patients for methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) cut infections to 17 cases from an average of 60 in previous years, according to the New York Times.
The paper quotes the hospital's chief of staff as saying that the entire program — added personnel, screening, using disposable blood pressure cuffs, isolating MRSA carriers, leaving a stethoscope in each room — costs about $500,000 while saving some $900,000 annually in treatment costs. Estimated U.S. costs for treating these infections run up to $30 billion annually.
The article quotes an infection-control advocate who criticizes the CDC's 2006 guidelines for infection control as "lax" and giving hospitals "an excuse to do too little."