Hot Topics

More and more bring resistant bacteria home to Norway

Resistant hospital bacteria.Photo: pixabay.com

More than before, are infected by the multi-resistant bacteria MRSA when they return to Norway after a foreign stay.

 

There is an increase in both those who carry the bacteria and those who have an infection, according to the National Institute of Public Health. Which writes the medical journal: Sykepleien. Both patient groups must be isolated when treated at a hospital.

There were 2,500 cases of MRSA infection from abroad last year, it is 14 percent more than last year. The figures come from a report The Norwegian Monitoring System for Antibiotic Resistance in Microbes (NORM) will soon publish. In addition, the occurrence of the resistant intestinal bacterium ESBL carba is also increasing, although it is still relatively low in Norway.

MRSA is yellow staphylococci that has developed resistance to several types of antibiotics. The bacteria was transferred to humans from infected pigs, but rarely causes serious infections in healthy persons.

Nurse and researcher Petter Elstrøm at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has done a study that shows patients with MRSA infections stay significantly longer in hospitals than patients without a MRSA infection.

“An MRSA infection lasts longer because it takes longer to find an effective antibiotic combination,” says Elstrøm.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today