New strain of MRSA discovered

London, Dec 18 (UNI) A new strain of MRSA, which is particularly virulent and attacks healthy youths and can cause symptoms ranging from minor skin infections to a form of pneumonia that can kill in 24 hours, has been found in hospitals here.

It was discovered after a 'healthy' hospital worker died after contracting this deadly new strain of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that had never before been reported as a cause of death. Four other workers at the hospital also contracted Panton-Valentine Leukocidin-positive (PVL) MRSA, said the Health Protection Agency.

An investigation subsequently found that the strain had killed a patient at a hospital earlier this year.

A previously healthy female healthcare worker, named only as ''Case One'', developed a severe MRSA infection and pneumonia and died after emergency surgery in September, the agency said. The bacterium that she had contracted, PVL-positive MRSA, had never been found to cause a death inside a hospital. It was contracted by at least three other workers in two wards in a West Midlands hospital, and two of their friends. It was also found to have caused the death of a patient at the hospital in March.

In a statement, the agency said, ''Eight cases of PVL- positive community-associated MRSA have been identified among individuals in a hospital and their close household contacts in the West Midlands. Four of these individuals developed an infection, two of whom subsequently died.'' It said extensive contact tracing had not identified more cases at the hospital. But the strain has been found in other hospitals, including the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, which is understood to have identified two non-fatal cases of the bug.

The discovery is significant as hospital-acquired MRSA has tended to affect elderly and infirm patients rather than younger people.

Infections caused by PVL-positive MRSA normally cause skin abscesses or boils and inflammations, but they can cause more severe invasive infections such as septic arthritis, blood poisoning, flesh necrosis and pneumonia.

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