July 20, 2016

Drs. Michihiko Goto and Eli Perencevich have published new findings in the most recent issue of Clinical Infectious Disease that reveal the VA’s nationwide and successfully aggressive effort to decrease drug-resistant staph infections had the added benefit of dramatically reducing infection rates of even more difficult-to-fight bacteria.

The VA’s efforts at increasing hand hygiene practice, isolating infection, and other stepped-up efforts had the result of decreasing MRSA infection rates by nearly 75 percent across three years. Analysis of the VA’s efforts showed that infection rates of other kinds of hospital-acquired infections, such as MCR and E. coli, also reduced by more than 40 percent. These stunning results indicate that improving patient care, reducing costs over the long run, and practicing more considered antibiotic use are not mutually exclusive.

These findings have begun to draw wider attention. Dr. Dan Diekema, Division Director of Infectious Diseases, has a helpful review of their analysis on his blog. The publication is also discussed here by National Geographic. Congratulations on this discovery and publication!