Two hospital patients die after picking up superbug
Seven others hit by latest outbreak of C diff in Scotland
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A patient in Aberdeen who contracted a hospital superbug has died, it was revealed last night.
Scottish Government agency Health Protection Scotland (HPS) confirmed last night that superbug Clostridium difficile, or C diff, had been a “contributing factor” in the death.
A further three patients who also contracted the bug at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary are being cared for in isolation.
The announcement came as it was revealed that the superbug also hit five patients at Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow, including one who has died. Similar to the case in Aberdeen, C diff was said to have been a contributing factor, but not the main cause of death.
Results from tests submitted to the national testing laboratory by NHS Grampian confirmed that the strain involved in Aberdeen was the virulent 027.
An HPS spokeswoman said last night she could not give any details about the patient who had died in Aberdeen because of patient confidentiality.
NHS Grampian said the three surviving patients had all completed a course of antibiotics. Two are no longer showing any symptoms and the third has minor diarrhoea. A spokesman said: “None are giving cause for concern”.
The spokesman added it had not been established if any of the cases were linked.
Conservative health spokeswoman and Highland MSP Mary Scanlon said more had to be done by hospitals to prevent similar outbreaks.
“Hospital management has to take responsibility for cleanliness and handwashing and the spread of infection,” she said.
“But we are now at the stage where individuals and GPs are going to have to take more responsibility in terms of antibiotics. GPs should reduce the amount of antibiotics they prescribe.”
C diff is a bacterium that usually lives in the large intestine and can inhabit healthy individuals without making them ill.
Type 027, first identified in 1999, is rare in the UK. It causes a greater proportion of severe disease and appears to have a higher mortality. It is also capable of spreading between patients.
The NHS Grampian spokesman said cases of C diff were increasing, mainly among the elderly.
“Around 3% of the wider community carries the bacteria,” he said.
HPS has also sent a letter to all NHS boards reinforcing advice on the measures required to control the bug.
Anne Eastaway, consultant microbiologist at HPS, said: “These two clusters are unrelated and we are in regular contact with the infection-control teams at both NHS Grampian and NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.”
Last year, the Press and Journal reported that the number of NHS Grampian patients diagnosed with the potentially deadly bug had risen by 70% in three years.
Health chiefs said the increase was the result of better screening and more cases being picked up outside of hospital.
The only way to tackle C diff is to take patients off general antibiotics and use specific antibiotics designed to tackle the bug.
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