Hong Kong pilot scheme aims to curb superbug infections among residents of homes for the elderly
- Residents get medical wipes to clean themselves thoroughly, with screening during hospital visits
- Pilot scheme kicks off in care homes in two districts, with plans to extend it across the city
The Hospital Authority has started a pilot project with homes for the elderly in Yau Tsim Mong and Hong Kong Island West districts to curb the spread of MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant superbug.
This comes after the incidence of superbug infections was found to have crept up in public hospitals last year.
Dr Raymond Lai Wai-man, the Hospital Authority’s chief infection control officer, told the Post that elderly residents of the homes were being given decontamination wipes to clean themselves thoroughly, and those going to hospital would be screened for infection too.
MRSA can cause severe problems such as bloodstream infections and pneumonia. Like other superbugs, it is commonly found in hospitals and long-term care facilities, and those most vulnerable include long-term hospital patients or care home residents.
“Local studies have found that about 20 to 30 per cent of residents at homes for the elderly had MRSA,” Lai said.
The authority, which oversees all public health institutions in Hong Kong, started the pilot scheme earlier this month.
Its Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth hospitals are offering decontamination wipes and medicated soap for care home residents to get rid of MRSA bacteria from their body. They can do so by regularly cleaning their nose, armpits and groin where the bacteria is commonly found.
Residents will receive the same treatment and be screened for MRSA when they are admitted to hospital or go for their check-ups.
Lai said he hoped to extend the scheme to the authority’s seven clusters across the city by next year at the earliest.
There were no plans yet to cover private hospitals and clinics, as patients only stayed there briefly and had a lower chance of being infected.
Lai said the incidence of MRSA and some other superbugs rose slightly last year, and the coronavirus pandemic was partly to blame.
As some wards were turned into isolation rooms for Covid-19 patients, others became crowded with non-Covid patients and equipment, making them harder to clean and affecting hygiene, he said.
The rate of MRSA infection among public hospital patients edged up from 43.3 per cent in 2019 to 43.8 per cent last year. The rates of infection for two other superbugs, Multi-Drug Resistant Acinetobacter (MDRA) and carbapenemase-producing enterobacteriaceae (CPE) also went up slightly.
“The rates are not very high but also not ideal. We haven’t seen a sharp increase and for MRSA, it has taken root in Hong Kong for many years,” Lai said.
He stressed that the city’s health authorities were keeping a close eye on antimicrobial resistance and doing several things to tackle it.
For example, infectious disease and microbiology specialists regularly reviewed the prescription of “broad spectrum” antibiotics to warded patients by internal medicine, surgery and orthopaedics specialists.
These drugs are considered more powerful in tackling a wide range of diseases, but could also lead to more resistance in the long term if misused or overused.
Lai said the review for the first three months of this year found that more than 90 per cent of prescriptions were given correctly, up from 87 per cent in 2020.
It also found that 90 per cent of doctors in this year’s review accepted the advice of specialists and revised their treatment schemes.
“Antimicrobial resistance can be found … not only in public hospitals but also in private hospitals and clinics. We can all play a key part in controlling the infections,” Lai said.
