Clostridium difficile has been linked to dozens of deaths at a hospital in Burlington, Ontario.
Ontario’s health minister plans to make it mandatory for hospitals to report cases of Clostridium difficile to the province after a Burlington hospital revealed that dozens of people had died in an outbreak of the bacteria.
George Smitherman made the announcement Wednesday after officials at Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital released the results of an investigation into a 20-month outbreak.
The external study found that the bacteria killed 30 patients and contributed to the deaths of 46 others. Earlier, the hospital said 12 people had died of the bacteria.
“It first came to our attention in late January [2007] that we had something different happening here with C. difficile than we’d seen before,” hospital president and CEO Don Scott told CBC News.
In 2007, Burlington hospital had an overall rate of C. difficile of 2 infections per 200 patients, twice the rate of other Canadian hospitals.
…
The outbreak lasted from May 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2007. C. difficile causes swelling of the intestines and diarrhea, as well as fever and vomiting.The hospital said it hasn’t had a new case of C. difficile since April 15, 2008. “The status at this time is certainly [thatC. difficile] is well under control,” said Scott.
Patient rooms are now wiped clean twice a day, and the hospital has spent $1 million to hire cleaning staff and switch to more effective disinfectants.
Dr. Michael Gardam, the head of infection control at the University Health Network who was brought in to help control the outbreak, said the bacteria went undetected for far too long and then wasn’t treated aggressively enough.
“In this particular case, several months went by before senior administration understood that they were in an outbreak,” said Gardam.
“My concern is there’s many hospitals that we have no idea what their rates are,” he added.
Look at reporting other superbugs, expert says
Following the results of the investigation, the health minister was asked whether C. difficile should be a reportable disease.
“Yes, and it will be. We’re working right now with the Ontario Hospital Association,” said Smitherman.
He said it’s a way of letting patients feel secure in the safety of their hospitals.
Dr. Michael Gardam, the head of infection control at the University Health Network, said hospitals should have to report outbreaks of other antibiotic-resistant bugs.
“They’re talking about other so-called superbugs, such as MRSA and VRE, in hospitals,” said Gardam. “I think those are well worth looking at, in addition to C. difficile.”
Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, can cause infection if it gets into the body through a cut or during surgery.
Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE), a normally benign bacterium, lives in the intestine. Infections can occur in the urinary tract, in the blood and in wounds, including surgical wounds.
Here’s the one-page report (PDF file).
Friday, 9 May 2008 at 16:31
From my brief experience as a nurse, often not every disease was cultured. It’s not always possible.
I do believe that C. diff can be smelled, if I am not mistaken. True, it needs to be cultured, but a nurse will culture if they suspect this.
Where I worked did MRSA tracking and this alone (plus a few other measures based on tracking) made the nosicomial levels go down by a bit.
Tuesday, 13 May 2008 at 19:08
Thanks! I think our sense of smell is an under-rated diagnostic tool. The real problem, I think, is human nature. Medical personnel, especially doctors, are reluctant to wash their hands all the time. Maybe each doctor should have an assistant with a checklist?