Hospital Infection: From Miasmas to MRSA

The continuing battle to control hospital infections has ranged from the earliest days of hospital care when bad air or miasma was thought to be the cause, to the present day emergence of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" such as MRSA and necrotizing fasciitis. This social history of hospital care surveys the rise, fall and re-emergence of new nosocomial infections and documents the development of medical microbiology and infection control.