02 Sep 2013
The amount of people being killed by the MRSA superbug is continuing to fall, according to official statistics.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the number of death certificates mentioning Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) fell by 19.7% from 364 in 2011 to 292 in 2012.
Further analysis of the statistics show that of the 292 death certificates mentioning MSRA, 13% also identified this organism as the underlying cause of death.
Over recent years MRSA death rates have been gradually falling, with fatalities from the disease falling by 79% in males and 76% in females between 2008 and 2012.
MRSA was involved in 0.1% of all deaths and 0.2% of all hospital deaths during the same period.
Clostridium difficile (C difficile) was involved in 1,646 deaths in 2012 – over 400 less than the previous year.
Meanwhile mortality rates for deaths involving C. Difficile fell for the fifth year in a row and fell from 19.6 to 15.3 deaths per million population between 2011 and 2012.
Copyright Press Association 2013