Ireland - C.Diff
- From: Pat Gardiner <pat.gardiner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 08:43:10 +0100
Pat;s Note: Ireland was the other country I expected to finger pigs as
a source for MRSA and a probable source for C.Diff.
Greymaus continues to amaze me. If the thought that kids are dying
does not move him, you would have thought that fame and fortune would
have stared him for the short trip to Dublin.
I've have spoon fed him the material.
When he finds an especially beautiful woman with unexpected foreign
honours, great wealth and a taste for travel, he will have reached his
destination.
Why so cryptic? If the lad reaches the finishing post, he will be able
(or maybe will not want to) explain.
Lazy lot, you Politburo. Would not have lasted ten minutes as a
shipbroker!
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/superbug-alarm-as-cases-hit--40-a-week-1383880.html
Superbug alarm as cases hit 40 a week
By Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent
Friday May 23 2008
THE alarming spread of a potentially fatal superbug in our hospitals
is revealed for the first time today.
New figures show 40 patients are being diagnosed every week with
Clostridium Difficile, the bug blamed for several deaths in two
hospitals in recent months.
Clostridium Difficile (C Diff) was only officially listed as a
notifiable disease earlier this month.
But in the space of just two- and-a-half weeks more than 100 patients
in hospitals around the country have been diagnosed with it.
A report by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC) confirmed
101 cases have been reported to the agency since doctors were legally
obliged to make reports on the prevalence of the bug from May 4.
However, the scale of the problem is likely to be even greater as two
health regions have yet to provide figures to the HPSC.
Opposition politicians claimed last night that continuing A&E
overcrowding was contributing to the rise of the superbug in
hospitals.
Fine Gael's Dr James Reilly called on the Health Service Executive to
immediately set out an action plan to implement the HSPC's
recommendations.
"It is good that we now have validated figures for the first time, but
it is clear continuing A&E overcrowding is making it difficult for
hospitals to control infections," he said.
"The HSE must now draw up an action plan -- with specific timelines."
The HSPC could not say if any of the 101 patients diagnosed with C
Diff in recent weeks died directly as a result of contracting the
disease.
However, Dr Fidelma Fitzpatrick, a Dublin microbiologist whose expert
group drew up the report for the HSPC, said: "We know that about 25pc
to 30pc of patients can die with it. It is difficult to disentangle if
it is the cause of death, because people have other serious
illnesses."
Dr Fitzpatrick was speaking at a conference in Dublin as Health
Minister Mary Harney launched the first set of guidelines on the
surveillance, diagnosis and management of C Diff.
The disease recently hit the headlines following revelations of deaths
in Ennis General and St Colmcille's Hospital, in Dublin.
The new HSPC report warned that C Diff had "high epidemic potential",
with 11 outbreaks recorded between 2004 and 2007.
C Diff particularly affects older patients on antibiotics. It can lead
to severe diarrhoea and directly cause the patient's death or
contribute to it.
Prof Stephen Flint, chair of the scientific committee of the HSPC
"implored" Ms Harney to make the resources available to deliver the
recommendations of the report, which calls for ringfenced funding for
surveillance, improved laboratory facilities and staff.
Control
However, Ms Harney was unable to commit government funding to
implement the report's recommendations. She said that while infection
control was now being "prioritised", any changes would have to be
"incremental".
Key recommendations of the report include:
lThe prompt isolation of patients with C Diff in a single room with
their own wash basin and en suite facilities.
lIf enough single rooms are not available, all infected patients need
to be placed together.
lEach hospital needs to conduct its own surveillance of the infection.
lEducation on infection control needs to be mandatory for all
healthcare workers.
lAntibiotic prescribing must be monitored.
The report highlighted the lack of a specialist laboratory here which
would allow doctors to detect what type of C Diff was affecting
patients and whether it was a particularly virulent strain. Doctors
currently have to send samples abroad.
- Eilish O'Regan Health Correspondent
--
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com
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