Boston hospital cited after staph outbreak among mothers, newborns

It is quite sad that a mother and infant would miss the nutrition and bonding of breast feeding due to MRSA. It's not a small matter as in "just" breast infections...

I'm confused. Did these infections occur inside the hospital or after discharge? If they might have contracted it at at pediatrician's office or play group, why was BI cited?

Does everyone forget why in years past all hospital staff wore white-and the whites were bleached at the hospital laundry - So you came to work-changed into the hospital whites-changed back into street clothes when you went home- This way you weren't out in your scrubs grocery shopping,at home depot, picking up kids, traveling on the trains ,etc spreading germs over and over everywhere you went.
It's time to step back in time and remember why certain practices were carried out.

Can I ask a dumb question. If these people had "antibiotic-resistant staph infections", how is it possible that "all identified infections have been successfully treated, in most cases with antibiotic cream or pills"? Is it just me, or does that contradict itself.

Were any of these infections observed at the surgical incision site following C-section?

Doesn't surprise me... I've seen plenty of infectious control violations at many hospitals. I witnessed a meal service person with NO gloves deliver a meal to a patinet. When she put down the try, she moved a cup by putting her finger IN the cup and other fingers on the rim of the patient's cup. The nurse was in the room at the time and witnessed it. Never said a word. When I said something, they both looked at me as if I had said something awful. The patient by the way was in the hospital for an infection. Nothing was done. JACHO... who knows what they are doing and the Mass Med Society is useless. The system is broken and HAS to be changed. Violations happen all the time. Doctors lie and get away with it. good old power of the pen.

Lisa: when people talk about antibiotic resistance it typically means resistance to one family of antibiotics. Luckily, we have stronger antibiotics that can usually stop the infection. But sometimes bacteria can become extensively drug resistant, like some strains of tuberculosis, and that when there's a real problem. Hope this helps!

In "years past" these strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria were not in existence.

This is really confusing.

Are the infections happening at BI or outside of BI?

The expert cited makes it seem like it could be happening elsewhere?

Please clarify!

Yeah, Stillworking- great points.

I cringe to see someone on the T redline in scrubs going inbound, thinking what the heck are their scrubs picking up for cooties from the train that they are going to bring into some patients room where they work. These hospital infections are happening too frequently, as I've read reports that annual DEATHS caused from hospital infections rival the annual mortality from drunk driving accidents. Huh? How can this happen?

Andy, my son was born at Beth Israel at the end of January and had MRSA by the time we left the hospital. It looked like little pimples in his diaper area but we had an appointment on the day after we were discharged and the pediatrician took a swab and notified us that it was MRSA. My son is fine but it was a little off-putting to know that he got that infection at the hospital. The hospital is just trying to deflect some blame.

So how can all of these BI patients have the same infections, but they got it outside the hospital??? Do they all go to the same "pediatrician's office", or "play group"? This doesn't make any sense...

When I worked at BIDMC, it was not unusual to see a doctor come into a restroom, do their business and leave without washing their hands.
Sometimes heading for the cafeteria. If they don't care about their own health,
how can they be expected to care about a patients.

If it might be happening in pediatrician's offices that send their Moms to Beth Israel Deaconess, shouldn't someone insist that all those practices be subject to the same scrutiny and take the precautions the hospital is taking??

Agree--we need better sterility in the hospital settings.
I work in healthcare and used to be amazed as I did procedures in the Brigham operating room that some of the techs and nurses were in scrubs that they wore in from home. This made no sense to me!! Isn't an OR supposed to be the pinnacle of sterility? Why aren't they putting on the scrubs that were washed with the stringent hospital detergents?

Its sad that this happened, but there are cases like this in hospitals across the country. Probably even more common back in the day of "bleached whites."

No attempt to deflect blame, Patrick. Quite the contrary, if you read what I said above.

My daughter had a baby @ Brigham & Womens two months ago and she has MERSA. We know of three other new mothers within the past year who contacted MERSA while giving birth @ B&W. The sad thing is that at first they don't tell you what it might be. My daughter had boils and went to the Newton Wellesley emergency room a couple weeks after giving birth and the doctors there never mentioned that this might be a hospital infection. They try to cover things up.
Shame on the hospitals and the doctors who have taken the Hippocratic Oath!
I guess it is all about money and law suits not about their patients well-being

My wife is scheduled to have a C-section at Beth Israel on Monday morning, so naturally we're a little bit concerned about this.

We brought it up at a pre-birth doctor's appointment on Friday, and they told us a couple of things that reassured us:

* According to what we were told, there were MULTIPLE strains of infection, based on DNA tests of the bacteria. This suggests that there isn't one source, and at least some of the sources (if not all) are coming in from outside the hospital. (This also contradicts the article, which says there is a single strain. I'd be happy for clarification here, but for lack of it, I'm going by what the doctors told us directly, not what is being reported here.)

* ALL hospitals have at least some occurance of MRSA, so it's not like the risk is significantly lower if you transfer to a different hospital.

* The infections seem to transfer by skin contact; they are not airborne. This suggests that as long as everyone is following good sanitary procedures (make sure hands & instruments are sanitized before making contact etc), then the risk of contracting the infection should be low.

As it happens, one of the mothers that got infected is an acquaintance of mine, as well as a medical professional, and she said that even given what happened to her family, she still wouldn't hesitate to deliver at Beth Israel.

So I'm not TOO worried.

But I'm still going to make sure everyone washes their hands constantly.

What is with the Boston Globe lately? What a terrible newspaper this has become. How is BI to held responsible for this? This strain is not one that is found in a hospital. Therefore, patients are being infected outside the hospital and bringing it in. Do more research on it before you constantly write articles bashing BI, or better yet, don't isolate BI on the problem and report on other hospitals and their policies etc. I've had 2 kids at BI and I would never go anywhere else. The staff is outstanding, thank you so much for everything you've done to me and my family BI. I hope and pray these Boston Globe reporters get real and stop the slandering thats been going on. I can tell you they have lost quite a few readers lately.

I have had this ongoing infection after a surgery which all doctors deny is there but they still treat me with a daily regiment of anti-biotics because they cannot find out what it is. I have been opened up 7+ times with excessive amounts of puss and slurry that comes out post-op. They don't know what to do and deny it happening and the last doctor had the guall to throw away the ~20oz. of puss & slurry as well as changing the medical reports to suit his needs. We really need to wake up as well as give the medical community a kick in the butt to wake them up as well. I am going in again for the 8th time this week to see if they can find the infection.

I wonder why an earlier account of this story by Stephen Smith linked many of the infections to circumcision, while there is no mention of that here.

15 of the 19 infected babies were circumcised boys.

They contracted MRSA in the hospital...Not at a playgroup or at the pediatricians office but in the B.I. hospital itself.