C diff deaths up by 72 per cent

Superbug deaths up by 72 per cent

Extract from the Telegraph:

"Deaths related to the hospital superbug Clostridium difficile have risen by almost three quarters, according to official figures.

The number of deaths involving the severe form of infectious diarrhoea rose by 72 per cent, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

However, MRSA-related deaths have levelled out, the ONS said."

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Second superbug outbreak kills thirteen in another Norfolk hospital

Second superbug outbreak kills thirteen - Telegraph

Extract:

"Thirteen patients suffering from the superbug Clostridium difficile have died at another Norfolk hospital.

It was revealed last week that an outbreak of the bug has killed 17 people at the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston, near Great Yarmouth, since December.

Now the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in King’s Lynn, just 65 miles away, has said that 13 of its patients who had C.difficile have died since the start of the year.

The bug, which causes severe diarrhoea, was directly responsible for eight of the deaths and was a contributing factor for the other five.

But the hospital stressed that most of the patients who died, the majority of whom were over 65, already had C.difficile when they were admitted."

UK Hospitals fail to report spread of new superbug 'more dangerous than MRSA'

UK Hospitals fail to report spread of new superbug 'more dangerous than MRSA' - Report is here and here are extracts:

"The shambolic state of infection control on wards is exposed in a survey by the Patients' Association. It found only about a quarter of trusts are gathering data on Clostridium difficile (C. diff), the bacterium that experts say poses more of a risk to public health than MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus)."

"The findings from 500 infection-control nurses and managers follow mounting concern over the threat to patients' health from C. diff, which can cause severe illness and death in those with weakened immune systems, particularly the elderly.

The bacterium, which spreads easily through unhygienic and filthy wards, is the major cause of infectious diarrhoea, but it can also cause high temperatures and severe inflammation, and comes with a death rate of about five per cent."

"Katherine Murphy, of the Patients' Association, said: "Collection of data about this very dangerous infection is haphazard to say the least, and we are not getting the true picture. How can patients have confidence in their hospitals if the real threat posed by C. diff is being played down?"

Dr Mark Enright, a microbiologist at Imperial College London, said that the government agency's monitoring scheme was flawed because a new and more dangerous strain of C. diff had emerged in the past year or so, striking patients aged 40 and over."

The Department of Health retains its usual complacency. - "A Department of Health spokesman said clean, safe care was not an "optional extra" for the NHS, adding: "Infection control should be a core activity for trusts.""