Thar’s gold in them thar nostrils!

The wisdom of screening anybody with nares for MRSA carriage may still be questioned, but one thing is beyond doubt: there’s a lot of money to be made in the screening biz.

Cepheid, which already has a “sole source” contract with the VA healthcare system, just inked contracts with two more integrated delivery systems to start MRSA surveillance programs. With fourth quarter revenues soaring 30% (to almost 50 million dollars), Cepheid’s CEO declared MRSA to be the “key driver” for their increased sales figures. Some of this money is put to use lobbying for bills that mandate MRSA screening, some helps fund “opinion leaders”, consultants and researchers, and some helps investment portfolios grow.

By contrast, the methods Mike outlined for eradicating MRSA from his ICUs do diddly-squat to stimulate the economy.

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