St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto is battling an outbreak of C. difficile after seven patients tested positive for the infectious bacterial disease, hospital officials revealed last night.
A patient started showing symptoms of Clostridium difficile some time between Friday and Saturday, prompting hospital staff to test for the bacteria, which grow in the intestine and can be fatal, said hospital spokesman Steve Williams.
After testing a number of patients - including some on antibiotics, which make them susceptible to C. difficile infection - staff put a total of seven patients in isolation.
The isolated patients are allowed to have visitors, but only one at a time. Visitors and staff are also required to wear hospital gowns and wash their hands thoroughly before attending the patient's bedside, Mr. Williams said.
Officials are still investigating whether the bacterial infection started in the hospital or came from outside.
There are no reported surgery cancellations and no other preventative measures that will affect other hospital guests and visitors, Mr. Williams said.
The outbreak comes just over a week after the Ontario government announced hospitals will have to track and report each case of C. difficile they see starting Sept. 30, 2008. This move came under fire by critics saying reported cases should become immediately available to the public.
Health Minister George Smitherman recommended last week that reporting begin after a website was set up as a tool for hospitals. Mr. Smitherman also rejected calls for the government to pursue an investigation into 260 deaths by C. difficile in seven of the province's public hospitals.
The Progressive Conservative Party and the New Democrats pressed for an inquiry, pointing out that the government had plenty of time to prevent 2,000 deaths in the 2003 C. difficile outbreak in Quebec.
Healthy people are usually not vulnerable to C. difficile, which often manifests itself in the large intestine and is spread through contact with feces. When it grows, it can cause colitis, an intestinal disease, and complications can be fatal. The Canadian Public Health Agency says hand-washing is the single best defence against C. difficile.
In most cases, C. difficile doesn't present symptoms, but when it does, sufferers have reported watery diarrhea, fever, loss of appetite, nausea and abdominal pain or tenderness.