Golden staph infections have risen at two of Perth’s major public hospitals, despite a drop in cases nationally.
Staphylococcus aureus, commonly known as golden staph, is a bacterium often found on the skin of healthy people but can cause illness or death if it gets into the bloodstream.
A report by the National Health Performance Authority (NHPA) showed golden staph cases at the city’s busy Royal Perth Hospital increased from 38 in 2012-13 to 58 in 2013-14.
Infections at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital also increased from 37 to 41 in the same period.
Fremantle Hospital recorded one case less in 2013-14 than the 18 reported the previous year.
The results at the two major hospitals bucked the national trend, which saw golden staph cases drop by six per cent to 1,621 across Australia’s public hospitals.
Despite the increase in cases, both Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner recorded rates of infection below the government-agreed target of no more than 2.0 infections per 10,000 patient bed days, as did Fremantle Hospital.
Swan District Hospital, in the Perth suburb of Middle Swan, recorded a rate of 0 infections over 10,000 bed days.
Albany Hospital, in the state’s South West also recorded one of the lowest rates around the country, at 0.26 infections per 10,000 bed days.
Rates ‘within acceptable limits’
Western Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Professor Gary Geelhoed said he was not particularly concerned about the rate of infections in Western Australia.
“As you can see from the figures it’s a tiny, tiny increase in the number of infections,” he said.
“It does vary from year to year but it’s within the acceptable limits, so I doubt there’s a problem at Royal Perth Hospital.
“Now the rate has gone up a bit, but as I stress it is small and within the acceptable limits, so I don’t think there’s a problem here.”
He said golden staph may never be completely eradicated.
“It’s quite complex because everyone is covered in bacteria,” he said.
“There’s bacteria on the skin, in your mouth, in your bowel etcetera, etcetera.
“Now if you swab everyone who goes into hospital you’ll find that a proportion of people have these organisms.
“The vast majority don’t cause any problems, but from time-to-time they will cause serious infections in these people.”