MRSA activists call for world unity from governments, health officials and organizations to take immediate action by declaring MRSA an ongoing epidemic, and appropriate funds for educational, awareness, and prevention programs to the public and healthcare industry.

The 2008 Seattle Times investigative series - 'Culture of Resistance' and the recent Las Vegas Sun's - 'Do No Harm' series illustrate the unrecognized magnitude of this epidemic “ far greater than H1N1 influenza. The failed leadership in action and systematic failure to take action has cost countless lives and needless pain and suffering, with more Americans dying every year from invasive MRSA infections than from HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's Disease or H1N1 influenza.

Co-chairs of the annual event are Illinois State Representative Patti Bellock, Pat Merryweather “ Senior Vice President of Illinois Hospital Association and Jeanine Thomas of MRSA Survivors Network.

Jeanine Thomas of MRSA Survivors Network is a survivor of MRSA, sepsis and C. difficile and became critically ill and nearly died after ankle surgery. She was the first patient/consumer advocate in the United States to raise the alarm about MRSA and healthcare-acquired infections and launched World MRSA Day in 2009.

SOURCE MRSA Survivors Network