15 O.R. staffers treated for staph

Fifteen operating room staffers at Bon Secours St. Francis Hospital, including surgeons and nurses, did not participate in surgery for a week to 11 days in August after testing positive for the presence of a common staph bacteria, hospital officials said Friday.

The affected staff have since returned to work after being treated with antibiotics and testing negative for Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. Surgical-site infections in five out of 1,500 patients in July and August prompted the hospital to test 68 operating room staffers for staph, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Shapiro.

Hospital officials at a news conference Friday said that there is no cause for public concern about the slight increase in surgical-site infections at St. Francis. "We feel that we are doing the right things for the patient. We really try to live by the mantra that 'One is too many,' " Shapiro said. "We have an extraordinarily low infection rate at St. Francis."

The hospital held the news conference in response to an anonymous e-mail sent to the media that alleged the hospital had an alarming number of surgical infections in the past few weeks. It also alleged that surgeons were placed on administrative leave and not allowed to operate because of the situation.

Shapiro said the MSSA bacteria for which 15 operating room staffers originally tested positive is very common and found on almost everyone's skin. He said about 35 percent of people are carriers of the bacteria. The operating room staffers had swabs taken from their nostrils that were tested for the presence of MSSA, he said.

Because of the slight increase in MSSA surgical-site infections in mid-August, the hospital systematically reviewed its operating rooms in the areas of sterilization, technique and personnel. Shapiro said the staff who tested positive were asked to stay out of the operating room for up to 11 days until they finished treatment with antibiotics and tested negative for staph. There have been no further MSSA surgical site infections in patients since the staff who tested positive for MSSA completed their treatment, he said.

Shapiro said the surgical site infections in the five patients may have happened because of incorrect home care. The number of infections is well below the national rate of 2.6 percent,

he noted.

Dr. Timothy West, hospital epidemiologist,

said it was the first time in 15 years that he has seen a hospital take the sort of action that St. Francis did in response to the slight increase in surgical site infections.

The five patients who had MSSA infections at their surgical sites have recovered.

All of the infections were non-life threatening, localized at the surgical site and the staph bacteria did not get into the blood stream, West said.

"As an organization, we are very transparent. We do regularly report our infections to the state and national government," Shapiro said.

He said the positive MSSA bacteria tests for 15 operating room staff members is not required to be reported to the government. MSSA is not the same as the more dangerous Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), he said.

Reach Prentiss Findlay at 937-5711 or pfindlay@postandcourier.com.