Super Bug outbreak kills nine at Que. hospital
Pastor Dale Morgan
Super Bug outbreak kills nine at Que. hospital*
Updated Sat. Oct. 29 2006 12:23 AM ET
CTV News Staff
CANADA - Doctors are investigating whether a more virulent strain of the
super bug C. difficile bacterium is to blame for an outbreak at a Quebec
hospital that killed nine people.
Health officials have identified a total of 22 cases at Honore-Mercier
Hospital in St-Hyacinthe, about 60 kilometres southeast of Montreal,
since late July.
Most of the nine patients who died were elderly and suffered from other
ailments, CTV Montreal's Cindy Sherwin reported, adding that the
youngest of the group was believed to be 59.
Another 13 patients who have fallen ill are now isolated in
single-patient rooms at the hospital, where strict infection control
measures are being applied, CTV Montreal reporter Cindy Sherwin said.
While doctors are not certain what caused the outbreak of Clostridium
difficile, they have expressed fears it could be a new and more powerful
strain.
But Dr. Jocelyne Sauve, director of public health for the Monteregie
area, said the strain could be the same one that struck Quebec hospitals
a couple of years ago and is making a renewed appearance.
Lab results expected next week should confirm which C. difficile strain
made the rounds.
Health officials believe the outbreak may have invaded the hospital when
an already-infected patient was admitted.
A hospital spokesperson told The Canadian Press that about half of the
hospital is being decontaminated, including the emergency room and the
intensive care units.
The cleanup should be completed by next week.
Hospital director general Denis Blanchard told CP that the hospital
followed conventional protocols when it noticed a higher incident rate
of C. difficile this summer.
"In September we realized the measures put in place weren't meeting the
objectives," he said.
More extreme measures have now been enacted, Blanchard said, including
centralizing disinfection of instruments and the equipment used in wards
where patients picked up the strain.
The hospital is also putting patients who display symptoms of infection
in isolation and has imposed a limit on the number of visitors allowed
other patients.
C. difficile, which causes diarrhea and can lead to a more serious
intestinal condition known as colitis, has become a menace in hospitals
and nursing homes.
Experts say the difficulty of eradicating C. difficile spores once an
environment has been contaminated by an infected patient makes the bug
easier to contract in hospitals.
The alarm comes one week after Quebec was lauded for its fight against
the bacteria at an international infectious-diseases conference in
Toronto. Experts praised Quebec's efforts to reduce antibiotic use and
improve on precautions such as hand hygiene to prevent the spread of
infection.
High rates of antibiotic use in institutions leave patients more
vulnerable to the bacterium.
When patients take antibiotics, competing colon bacteria dies off,
allowing C. difficile to take hold and flourish.
A strain of C. difficile is blamed for roughly 2,000 deaths in Quebec
between 2003 and 2004.
C. difficile expert Dr. Andre Dascal, with McGill University's
department of microbiology and immunology, said the reappearance of C.
difficile is not unusual.
But reports of C. difficile infections outside hospitals in people not
commonly thought to be at risk had him concerned.
"That ... is of major importance because if it's in the community
already then this notion that just managing it in the hospital may not
be enough," he told CP.
With a report from CTV Montreal's Cindy Sherwin and files from the
Canadian Press