Golden staph declines in Australian public hospitals.

The Floraville resident was recently diagnosed with a staphylococcus aureus infection – otherwise known as golden staph.

While it was impossible to identify exactly when and how it happened, Jade’s family believe the infection got in through the wounds from her tooth extractions.

“It’s common to find staph in your nose or on your skin … I’ve done a bit of reading on it since,” Mrs Gibson said.

“But it’s in there for good now.”

Jade had gone to bed with “a bit of a headache” after getting two teeth removed.

“I gave her some Panadol and she went to school the next day,” Mrs Gibson said.

“But I had a call from the school saying that Jade was really distressed about a sore shoulder.

“When I picked her up, I’d never seen her so upset. She was in a lot of pain, and she was complaining about a pain in her leg as well.”

Jade ended up in John Hunter Children’s Hospital, where she was diagnosed with golden staph.

An x-ray revealed the infection had “attached” to the growth plate in her shoulder.

“I had to have canulas in my arm, with my arm straight the whole time, and I had to stay in hospital for five nights and six days,” Jade said.

“I had one canula in for a long time and one night I cried because it hurt that much.”

Jade has since been on strong antibiotics and continues to be monitored.

While Jade’s case was likely to be more of a community-based infection, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has just released its latest report into the incidence of healthcare-associated golden staph in hospitals across the country.

The report shows rates of staphylococcus aureus infections in Australian public hospitals had decreased by 17 per cent from 2011-to-2012 to 1,440 cases in 2015-to-2016.

Hunter New England Health infectious diseases physician Dr John Ferguson said the Calvary Mater Hospital had shown the biggest improvement in the region, with rates of staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections improving from 2.8 per 10,000 bed days, to 1.3. The John Hunter Hospital also had a rate of 1.3.

“Our major trouble has always been the Calvary Mater, but they’ve really gotten on top of it now this year,” Dr Ferguson said.

He said better hand hygiene across all Hunter sites had contributed to the decline in staph rates, with a staff compliance of 87 per cent.

The Australian public hospital report showed hand hygiene compliance in public hospitals increased from 71.8 per cent to 83.6.