RAWALPINDI, Nov 15: The Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH)’s intensive care unit and operation theatre were recently hit by a drug-resistant bacterium, Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), a source in the hospital revealed.

Dr Asif, a duty medical officer at the hospital , talking to Dawn, confirmed the incidence of MRSA. He said all necessary steps had been taken and the infected wards were properly disinfected. He said the problem persisted for 5-6 days.

The source said the wound infection was common at the hospital. He said due to the incidence, the condition of some of the patients admitted to the hospital had aggravated. The culture and sensitivity tests, he added, had confirmed the incidence of MRSA.

The problem had become quite chronic and swabs taken from the equipment and staff showed the presence of MRSA.

The source said in view of the situation the administration had closed down the operation theatre and surgical ICU and shifted all patients to other wards.

Doctors say the best option is “cohorting” in which all MRSA patients are kept together instead of spreading them out to different wards, which could have resulted in the spread of MRSA.

Staff nurses, who are the most common carriers of MRSA, were put on antibiotics and sent on leave. Hospital staff, both medical and paramedical, can serve as reservoirs for MRSA and may harbour the pathogen for many months, doctors point out. They might well become the link for transmission of the bacterium.

MRSA’s outbreak can occur with the transmission of one strain of pathogen to other patients. Often, the bacterium may transmit to others when a patient or a health worker is colonised with MRSA strain and comes in contact with others.