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Meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) remains endemic in many UK hospitals. Specific guidelines for control and prevention are justified because MRSA causes serious illness and results in significant additional healthcare costs. Guidelines were drafted by a multi-disciplinary group and these have been finalised following extensive consultation. The recommendations have been graded according to the strength of evidence. Surveillance of MRSA should be undertaken in a systematic way and should be fed back routinely to healthcare staff. The inappropriate or unnecessary use of antibiotics should be avoided, and this will also reduce the likelihood of the emergence and spread of strains with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides, i.e. vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus/glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (VISA/GISA) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA). Screening for MRSA carriage in selected patients and clinical areas should be performed according to locally agreed criteria based upon assessment of the risks and consequences of transmission and infection. Nasal and skin decolonization should be considered in certain categories of patients. The general principles of infection control should be adopted for patients with MRSA, including patient isolation and the appropriate cleaning and decontamination of clinical areas. Inadequate staffing, especially amongst nurses, contributes to the increased prevalence of MRSA. Laboratories should notify the relevant national authorities if VISA/GISA or VRSA isolates are identified.

Purpose: Traditional surgical treatment for panprosthetic aortic graft infection entails radical excision of the graft, aortic stump closure, and extraanatomic revascularization of the lower limbs. This carries an early mortality rate of 24% to 45%. Amputation rates range from 11% to 37%. Multiple operations and prolonged hospital stay are usual. We have developed a more conservative management technique with the aim of improving outcome., Methods: We describe an innovative method of treating the condition with prolonged, high-dose, local antibiotic irrigation therapy, systemic antibiotic treatment, surgical debridement, and graft conservation in a prospectively studied series of 10 patients., Results: The actual 30-day patient survival rate is 90%, the 1-year survival rate is 80%, and the 4-year survival rate is 67%. Two patients died because of graft infection, and the third died, uninfected, of an unrelated cause. No limbs have been amputated. Only two patients required a second operation. Mean postoperative hospital stay was 32 days. The seven survivors have been closely followed up with regular computed tomography or indium scanning and clinical examination and appear to be free from infection at a mean of 61 months after cessation of irrigation therapy., Conclusion: The technique appears to represent a significant improvement in the management of this major complication of vascular surgery.