C. difficile outbreak kills 9 in Saint-Hyacinthe

Nine people have died and13others are ill after an outbreak of C. difficile at a Saint-Hyacinthe hospital, andofficials believe it may be a more virulent and resistant strain of the bacterium.

The Centre hospitalier Honor-Mercier, east of Montreal,hasstarteda decontamination and sterilization blitz after tracking the 22 cases over a three-month periodthat startedJuly 23.

The hospital's five regular units have already been disinfected, and the emergency room and intensive-care unit are next, confirmedDenis Blanchard, director of the Centre de sant et des services sociaux Richelieu-Yamaska.

More than 50 per cent of the facilities will be thoroughly decontaminated, he said.

The hospitalhas also posted signs reminding people to wash their hands, andhasrestricted accessfor children 12 and under. Visiting hours are scaled back andjust one person is allowed to see patients at a time.

The outbreak affected elderly patients, officials said. They believe the outbreak is limited to the hospital, and is under control.

Blanchard says prophylacticmeasures to combat C. difficile did help limit its spread in this particular case, although he qualified the outbreak as "dramatic."

Antibiotic link

C. difficile, which causes severe diarrhea,has been traditionally thought of as an infection acquired in hospitals, where antibiotic use is rife. Antibiotics are known to upset the bacterial balance of the human gut, which can allow C. difficile to take root and flourish.

The Quebec hospital's outbreak may have been caused by a different C. difficile strain that could be more virulent than others documented in the province, Blanchard told Radio-Canada Friday.

The infection was probably introduced to the hospital by an ERpatient, he adds.

SeveralQuebec hospitalsexperienced C. difficile outbreaks in 2004, but the bacterium was believed to be contained following stringent sanitary measures.

The 2004outbreak hit hospitals in Montreal, the Eastern Townships, Montrgie, Lanaudire and l'Abitibi, with more than7,000 people reporting infectionsat the time.

At least 600 of them diedfollowing infection,according to research done by Dr. Vivian Loo at the McGill University Health Centre.

No comparison with last outbreak

The Saint-Hyacinthe outbreak comes at a point whenC. difficile is no longer considered a major problem in Quebec hospitals, even though it is a constant threat, said Dr. Karl Weiss, an infectious disease expert at Montreal's Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital.

"There's absolutely no comparison between what we're going through now, and what we went through a few years ago.

"However, we're not going to eradicate the bacteria completely. There will always be a few cases of C. difficile," he told CBC on Friday.

The outbreak at theCentre hospitalier Honor-Mercier in Saint-Hyacinthe came just as the hospital was returning to normal after a major mould infestation that forced administrators to renovate the medical centre.

Hospital administrators insisted the outbreak has nothing to do with the mould problem.