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More patients diagnosed with C. difficile
Provided by: Sun MediaWritten by: SARAH GREEN
Mar. 2, 2007
Three more patients at Mississauga's Trillium Health Centre have been diagnosed with C. difficile as two other Ontario hospitals treat patients for the bacterium infection.
A total of 17 elderly patients are in isolation at the Mississauga hospital suffering symptoms of C. difficile, a bacterium commonly found in North American hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Four patients with C. difficile have died at Trillium since January, including one who was diagnosed with a virulent strain that has killed 2,000 patients in Quebec since 2003. It's not known if C. difficile caused the deaths of these elderly patients, who all suffered from complex medical conditions, said hospital spokesman Roula Giannidis.
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OVERCROWDING
The hospital usually sees about seven new cases a month of C. difficile, he said. There have been 123 cases in the last 12 months out of 20,000 hospital admissions.
Overcrowding in the past two months may be partially to blame for the rise in cases, Murray said. More than 1,200 patients were temporarily cared for in hallways because there were no beds. "It's no coincidence. January was the first month we had to put patients in beds in the halls in the wards," Murray said.
Dr. Joshua Tepper, the province's acting chief medical officer of health, said at any one time in Ontario, a few hospitals will have a small number of C. difficile cases.
"Clostridium difficile is not new. It's been around for a long time. In most cases it's completely harmless," Tepper said. Symptoms include diarrhea, fever, nausea and abdominal pain.
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