NHS hospital superbug outbreak kills 331

Appalling standards of care and a catalogue of failures contributed to the deaths of 331 patients in the worst outbreak of a hospital superbug ever recorded in the NHS, a report has found.

Crowded wards, a shortage of nurses and financial problems led to 1,176 people contracting Clostridium difficile over two and half years at three hospitals in Kent.

Though the superbug was rife on the wards, managers failed to act. Isolation units were not set up, nurses were so rushed they did not have time to wash their hands and patients were left in soiled beds.

Bedpans were not decontaminated properly and beds were not cleaned as well as they should have been.

The health watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, concluded that the infection probably or definitely killed at least 90 patients and was a factor in the deaths of a further 241.

Fourteen patients who died were found to have C.diff but it did not contribute to their deaths. In total 345 people died with the infection.

The report said some patients at the hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Hospital Trust should have made a full recovery from their initial illness. But they caught the bug and died. Police will determine if there are grounds for criminal charges.

"C. diff is a nasty bug but is not strictly a Third World problem. Lots of people are infected every year here in the USA."

Absolutely correct. My mother went to the care of God in May 2007 after she contracted Cdiff through a pic-line in her wrist and couldn't shake it.

6 different anti-biotics in massive quantities and they just couldn't get the stuff into her fast enough. It killed her in 10 days. Make no mistake, it's a nasty bug.

This all went down in a well-known, high-profile hospital that I won't name, but safe to say - it can easily happen right here in the USA. The best bet is to stay the heck out of the hospital at all costs.

Hospitals are filthy.

I was in the hospital overnight at the end of August this year. I had to have my gallbladder taken out after 2 severe pain level 10 gallbladder attacks within 10 days before surgery.

The toilet paper in the hospital room bathroom was nasty. (It was a 2 room shared bathroom) It looked like it had sat in some form of nasty liquid and had dried out. I removed it and put a fresh roll on the holder and I took the nasty roll to the nurses station. (I should have kept it and sent it to the head of the hospital after got out of the hospital).

Then after surgery and after I was put back in my room, I vomited due to being knocked out for surgery and I barely made it to the toilet to vomit. It ended up all over the toilet seat. I called the nurse to have someone clean it up after I had cleaned it up with some form bath wipes that were in the bathroom. But it needed a full sterile cleaning from the cleaning staff. I was there in the room awake for at least 3 hours before I was released to go home and not a single person came in and sterilized the toilet. I cleaned it again with what I had before I left the room since it was shared bathroom and there was patient in the room next to mine.

I was happy to be released from the hospital within 5 hours after I had my gallbladder removal surgery.

I had to stay in the hospital the night before surgery because my second gallbladder attack sent me back to the ER the day before I had surgery. They admitted me straight from the ER and they did the CT scans the day before surgery while I was admitted. They thought I had a stones stuck in my lower common duct due to the level of pain I had and the location of the pain I was having. Most of my pain was in the front, from my pelvis to my diaphragm. My liver enzymes were way off the charts - over 200 and I don't drink alcohol or nor do I have hepatitis. The CT scans was also to make sure I did not have any tumors in my Liver. My liver enzymes were off the charts because I had stones stuck in my duct in the days before my surgery but I had passed them when I had my two pain level 10 attacks. I felt them pass through me when they finally dislodged from the duct and it felt like a hot fireball (or a lit firecracker) rolling through me until they hit my smaller intestine. Each time they would through my duct all my pain would instantly and fully go away.

After they took out my gallbladder they found over two hundred BB sized gallstones. (just the right size for them to move out of the gallbladder but get stuck in my duct). The surgery was a breeze for me and I was moving around at full speed within 2 days, but I made sure not to over do it for about 7 days after surgery.

Thursday October 11, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

What is Clostridium difficile?
C difficile is a virulent new strain of bacteria linked to three times as many deaths as the notorious hospital superbug MRSA. It is a common bacteria carried harmlessly in the gut of half of all children aged under two, and many adults. Unlike MRSA, C difficile is not resistant to antibiotics and not officially recognised as a superbug by the Department of Health (DoH).

Why is it in the news?
A report by NHS watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, found that 1,100 patients at the three Kent hospitals run by the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust contracted the bug between April 2004 and September 2006. Of these patients, 345 mainly older patients with multiple medical problems died, 90 of whom the report found “definitely or probably” did so as a result of the infection. Dirty wards and staff shortages were among the causes of two outbreaks at the trust in the autumn of 2005 and early 2006, inspectors found.

snip... more at link
http://www.guardian.co.uk/medicine/story/0,,2188456,00.html

Bedpans were not decontaminated

We haven't had to do this in years!! Our bedpans are DISPOSABLE!!
C. Diff has turned into a serious "bug" here as well. There have been deaths. But, aggressive precautions such private rooms and terminal room decontamination has gone a long way. As has our DISPOSABLE isolation gowns, disposable temp dots, etc. all of which cost money.

Today anyone in a hospital and getting most antibiotics should also be on a pro-biotic.

[It is a common bacteria carried harmlessly in the gut of half of all children aged under two, and many adults. Unlike MRSA, C difficile is not resistant to antibiotics and not officially recognised as a superbug by the Department of Health (DoH).]

I have a brother-in-law who had most of his colon removed thanks to this bug. He went to the VA for some other condition. They prescribed anti-biotics and the anti-biotics killed off the beneficial bacteria in his digestive tract. This created an environment where the c-dif was able to flourish.... He's lucky to be alive and gets to drag one of those lovely bags around for the rest of his days.

and C.diff is basically found in healthy people as well, but it will be much worse in people that have chronic disease, immune suppressed, on antibiotics for long periods of time, etc....

this is not a mystery....

people in a hospital for any length of time are sick, vulnerable....they are prime examples of people that can easily catch an intestinal bug...

so avoid hospitals that have sick people and nursing homes....elderly would be better off at home with their family/kids...

the less exposure for the chronically ill and the elderly, the better....fewer coughs, colds, sneezes, diarrhea, spit, drool, etc etc....

I hate the attitude that people are supposed to live forever, and especially the chronically ill...that dying is just going to be in our sleep, and that we have conquered all diseases...we have not....we are going to die of something...intestinal infection, cancer, heart disease..

there is no getting around it.....

in the states, people with suspected Cdiff are put in a room by themselves, and hopefully people will follow isolation technique, including the familes and friends (not!) and doctors.....

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