Prediction: MRSA-PVL Superbug to Infect 15,000/Yr in the UK

Dave Roberts has done some checking and reports in MRSA Watch that the strain of MRSA carrying the Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene could soon be infecting 15,000 people per year in the UK. Up to 3,500 will end up in hospital, and 700/yr could die, his research suggests, if they develop the same time of pneumonia that killed Royal Marine Richard Campbell-Smith in late 2004.

Dave comments:

When the toxic PVL strains cross-fertilise with multi-drug resistant hospital strains - or the small clusters of MRSA being discovered that resist drugs of last resort such as vancomycin or the (expensive) alternative linezolid - we could see a highly infectious, highly toxic and virtually untreatable version of MRSA have a major impact on public health.