MRSA (Mersa) Questions

Probiotic Supplement May Fend Off Antibiotic-Induced Diarrhea

Link: Probiotic Supplement May Fend Off Antibiotic-Induced Diarrhea MedPage Today.

Bolstering the GI tract with a mix of disease-fighting microbes significantly reduced the occurrence of diarrhea associated with antibiotics and Clostridium difficile, according to investigators here. Tthe therapy appears to be cost effective on the basis of the number needed to treat and the cost of the probiotic preparation. Hospitalized patients who consumed a probiotic milkshake twice a day during antibiotic therapy had 75% fewer episodes of diarrhea they reported online in BMJ. The drink, containing Lactobacillus casei, L. bulgaricus, and Streptococcus thermophilus, also kept the GI tracts clear of diarrhea-causing C. difficile, said research dietitian Mary Hickson, R.D., Ph.D., of Imperial College and Hammersmith Hospital, and colleagues, on the basis of a placebo-controlled trial.

More checks for c difficile

Link: CareandHealth.

The Commission will continue to assess how trusts are doing in meeting the MRSA reduction targets. For the first time, it will also make an assessment of the quality of data that trusts collect on Clostridium difficile. The Commission will ensure that assessment managers focus on the “big picture” and the outcomes that matter to patients. Trusts will be assessed on whether they meet the overall objective of a standard, not every minor detail of the criteria for standards. In the 2006/07 annual health check, the Commission reduced the “lines of enquiry” by more than 25%.

3% have c difficile

Link: BBC NEWS | Health | Hospital bugs.

C. difficile is a bacterium found in the gut of up to 3% of healthy adults and 66% of infants, although it rarely causes problems. However, certain antibiotics can disturb the normal balance, allowing the bug to thrive and causing severe diarrhoea and in some cases severe inflammation of the bowel which can be life threatening. Over 65s are most at risk.

Outbreak of C. difficile hits 15

Link: BBC NEWS

Fifteen people in south Wales are being treated by doctors after an outbreak of the bug clostridium difficile. The majority of those affected are patients at Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil. The bacteria normally affects elderly patients, causing intestinal problems which can lead in more serious cases to bleeding and perforation. North Glamorgan NHS Trust patients have been isolated and strict control measures have put in place. Health officials said that all those identified with C. difficile were in the early stages of infection.

C Diff much worse than reported

Link: New fears of 'fatal bug' threat | Metro.co.uk.

Government statistics have ignored thousands of cases of Clostridium difficile in Britain and misrepresent the threat posed by the potentially fatal bug, a report by a Tory MP claimed. More than 25,000, or almost one-in-six, of all cases of the bug have gone unreported because the Government only logged cases in the over-65s, according to the report by Grant Shapps. A further 32,707 cases in Scotland and Wales were not reported to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) because it only covers England, the MP says in the report C-Difficile - The Complete Germ Map of Britain.

Deadly infection an evolving threat

Link: Deadly infection an evolving threat.

Though her mother was in her 90s, Bright said, she was in essentially good health until a brief hospital admission started her decline — a yearlong, losing battle against a lethal intestinal infection caused by a microscopic organism called Clostridium difficile. Clinicians and public health officials refer to it casually as "C. diff." Though it’s been a problem for many years, they say, now it’s on the rise everywhere — not just in hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions, but even out in the communities where we live and work. A new strain seems to be evolving — more lethal, easier to spread, and harder to treat.

More at the link above

6% get infections in Welsh Hopsitals

Link: icWales - How safe are Welsh hospitals?.

THE true extent of hospital infections and superbugs in Wales can today be revealed with just over 6% of patients admitted developing an infection during their stay. And there were 225 outbreaks of infections, including a number of cases of the bug Clostridium difficile in Welsh hospitals last year. But only a fraction of them were caused by the potentially lethal bug MRSA. The most common outbreaks are caused by diarrhoea and vomiting bugs, or the Norwalk or Norovirus, which last week closed a ward in Morriston Hospital’s neurosurgery unit, in Swansea, affecting 16 patients and 15 members of staff.

Old, overcrowded hospital contributed to C. difficile deaths

Link: Old, overcrowded hospital contributed to C. difficile deaths.

Dr. Bonita Porter, Deputy Chief Coroner of Inquests, today announced that conclusions and recommendations have been made as a result of the investigation into 26 deaths which occurred at the Sault Area Hospital between April and November 2006 where Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) bacteria was thought to be a factor. The Office of the Chief Coroner established an expert review committee to examine each of the cases in Sault Ste. Marie where C. difficile was suspected of contributing to the death. Of the 26 cases reviewed, it was determined that C. difficile caused 10 of the deaths and was a contributing factor in another eight. C. difficile was not a factor in the remaining eight deaths.

C diff doubles in London Hospital

Link: Bromley Times.

SUPERBUG infections in a hospital have nearly doubled in two years, according to report by the Health Protection Agency. Cases of the Clostridium Difficile (Cdiff) have risen at Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH), Farnborough in patients over 65 from 169 in 2004 to 319 in 2006. Nationally, there were 55,681 cases of Cdiff last year, a rise of eight per cent from the previous year. Although the figures show that the spread of the disease is slowing down, hospital trusts are still struggling to cope. Research suggests that screening patients and isolating those infected with the disease is the best form of prevention. A spokesman for PRUH said that the hospital does not screen patients for Cdiff and said that the cases reported last year included "both hospital-acquired cases and patients who already had it when they came in."

Canadians want national c diff policy

Link: Public health agency taking yearly snapshot of spread of severe C. diff strain.

How bad is the C. difficile problem in Canadian hospitals? Is it getting worse? Better? No one really knows. Sure, there are anecdotal reports of outbreaks in individual hospitals, many of which keep close tabs on their in-house C. difficile rates. And two provinces - Quebec and Manitoba - require all hospitals to routinely report all C. difficile cases. But with no ongoing national surveillance program to compile, record and chart over time the Clostridium difficile-associated disease activity in this country, there is no way to say if cases, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing, whether the virulent NAP-1 strain is spreading or whether control measures are having any effect.