Source: The Independent
Date: 26/05/2006
Jeremy Laurance in the Independent today reports that the hospital bug Clostridium difficile is causing more than twice
as many deaths as it did five years ago, according to official figures. Inadequate infection control measures in
hospitals and declining levels of cleanliness are believed to be behind the rise. The Healthcare Commission is also
set to publish a survey of hospital patients that suggests that standards of cleanliness in hospitals has fallen.
The first report on deaths linked with C.difficile published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics, show
that they rose from 975 in 1999 to 2,247 in 2004. In more than half of cases (55%) the bug was identified as the
underlying cause of death. In the remainder it was a 'contributory factor'. The figure is more than twice the number
of deaths linked to MRSA, the antibiotic-resistant superbug. The C.difficle strain has been identified at more than
40 hospitals around the country. Health minister Andy Burnham said 'We have now released a high-impact intervention
for the NHS to help reduce C.difficile infections, and we are also legislating to put a hygiene code and a tougher
inspection regime into law'.
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