Trust Reveals Drop in Level of C.Diff Superbug

By Claire Regan

The Northern Health and Social Care Trust confirmed yesterday that three more patients have died in recent days, bringing the number of C.Difficile linked deaths since last summer to 23.

While fears over the impact of a new strain of the superbug were heightened, there was one silver lining.

A spokesman for the Northern Trust confirmed that it is now dealing with 15 ‘active’ cases of C.Difficile with six of those classified as recovering.

This is a drop from last week when there were 24 patients infected, eight of those described as ‘recovering’. The week before, there were 27 infected.

Confirming the three deaths, the spokesman said: “We are not at liberty to discuss details around the cause of deaths in individual patients.

“Samples from patients associated with C.Difficile have been sent for analysis to a reference laboratory. From the initial results we can confirm that not all of those infected have the recently identified ribotype 027.”

The Trust is dealing with an outbreak of C.Difficile which it declared last month when the level of patients affected rose to higher than normal.

Experts have attributed the official outbreak to the emergence of ribotype 027 – a more virulent form of the bacteria. It tends to affect the elderly. It is understood this is the first time this strain has surfaced in Ulster.

The Trust revealed more than two weeks ago that C.Difficile had been linked to the deaths of 16 patients at a number of Co Antrim hospitals since last summer. The toll rose to 20.

Speaking yesterday, Northern Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, said there was no evidence that other hospitals or health trust areas across Northern Ireland were facing an increase of incidence in the same way as the Northern Trust.

“It’s a sign that measures in place have contained the infection,” he said.

Dr McBride questioned suggestions that hospital visiting should be banned to cut down on the spread of the bug and instead said visitors should be restricted to two people per bed.

(c) 2008 Belfast Telegraph. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.