Ontario: C. Diff outbreak at Kingston General Hospital

[Shiloh]

Source: http://www.kingstonthisweek.com/Arti...aspx?e=3260403

KGH reports outbreak of C. difficile
By KTW Staff
Posted 10 minutes ago

Kingston General Hospital is dealing with an outbreak of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) within the facility.

Over the last 30 days, 12 new cases of this hospital-acquired infection have been reported.

Consistent with provincial guidelines, a facility-wide outbreak has now been declared...

[Shiloh]

Re: Ontario: C. Diff outbreak at Kingston General Hospital

Source: http://www.intelligencer.ca/ArticleD...aspx?e=3269771

Kingston outbreak doesn't affect QHC
By Luke Hendry
Posted 36 minutes ago

Quinte Health Care's regular precautions are in effect as a bacterial outbreak at Kingston General Hospital continues.

The outbreak of clostridium difficile was declared Aug. 15, but there are no visiting restrictions at that hospital and no new precautions are in effect at Quinte Health Care.

C. difficile is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and long-term care homes, according to Ontario's health ministry.

According to the provincial ministry of health and long-term care, C. difficile is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and long-term care facilities.

Though it doesn't normally cause illness, it can be fatal for some people already in poor health. The bacteria was blamed for at least 17 deaths in an Ontario outbreak earlier this year.

An outbreak is declared when a hospital exceeds its usual rate of cases in the last 30 days.

Patients often move between KGH and QHC's four hospitals, since the Kingston hospital is has numerous specialized departments, including cancer care.

Karen Smith, a KGH spokeswoman, said that hospital's usual case rate of c. difficile is eight patients, but the outbreak was declared after that rose to 12. Since then it's varied from eight to 11...