SR0516 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0516 LRB097 17068 KXB 62266 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) causes deadly infections in patients receiving treatment in health care facilities and affects numerous individuals in the community; and

WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that hospital-acquired MRSA infections kill more than 19,000 individuals in the United States every year; and

WHEREAS, More than 200 studies support the need for active detection (screening) of at-risk patients, upon admission to a healthcare facility, to identify MRSA carriers who are infected, reducing the chance of a patient acquiring a MRSA infection and reducing the reservoir of transmission in the facility; and

WHEREAS, Testing and decontaminating of frequently touched surfaces and other environments for MRSA and other pathogens can help reduce the reservoir of transmission to patients and community members; and

WHEREAS, Patient and consumer advocacy organizations are calling upon health care officials and government leaders to step up and take a more comprehensive approach to stopping MRSA through implementation of active detection (screening) of high-risk patients and decontaminating frequently touched surfaces; and

WHEREAS, MRSA Survivors Network, the first consumer organization in Illinois and the United States to raise awareness concerning the MRSA epidemic and other such multi-drug resistant health care-acquired infections, has announced that April 1-7, 2012, has been designated as International MRSA Testing Week in order to call attention to this worldwide epidemic; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we proclaim April 1-7, 2012 as MRSA Testing Week in the State of Illinois to coincide with International MRSA Testing Week.