People assume that they go to hospital to get well. However, in the past few years this perception has been challenged by the real risk of acquiring a deadly infection while in hospital. As a consequence, public confidence in the health service has suffered. An antibiotic-resistant strain of bacteria was first identified in the 1950s. It was a staphylococcus common in abscesses and bloodstream infections and it had become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin. Since then the bacteria have become resistant to a second antibiotic and have become established as a source of infection in many nursing homes and hospitals. Today they are believed to cause about 1,000 deaths each year as a result of hospital-acquired infections. Action that can beat this superbug is simple but expensive. It requires very high levels of hygiene and cleanliness and a programme of testing so that infected patients can be isolated and treated.
Question: Staphylococcus infections kill around 1,000 people a year.
Options:
A. true
B. false
C. uncertain
Answer: B