1.2 Million U.S. Patients Get Resistant Staph Each Year

As many as 1.2 million U.S. hospital patients may be infected each year with a virulent staph infection that's resistant to antibiotics -- a rate almost 10 times greater than previous estimates, a new study finds.

The research, conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, also found that as many as 119,000 hospital patients each year may die from the tough-to-treat strain of bacterium, called methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The germ is spread by touch and can lead to dangerous skin infections, blood infections and pneumonia.

"This is a wakeup call that hospital administrators should understand the importance of this problem," said report author Dr. William Jarvis, an epidemiologist and president of the consulting firm, Jason and Jarvis Associates.

And a wakeup call to those that are implementing hand sanitizer programs...