EFFORTS ARE being made to contain an outbreak of clostridium difficile (C Diff) at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth, where two patients who had the hospital acquired infection died in recent days.
Another 10 patients currently in the hospital have tested positive for the superbug and a further two patients are suspected to have it.
The bug causes a diarrhoea-type infection in vulnerable patients already on antibiotic therapy for other conditions. In severe cases it can cause death.
All patients in the hospital with diarrhoea are now being screened for the infection.
In a bid to contain the outbreak, visiting restrictions have been imposed and all elective surgery at the hospital has been cancelled until further notice. The HSE hospital began cancelling elective procedures yesterday when 13 elective admissions were cancelled, including four patients who were due for surgery. Outpatient clinics are continuing as normal.
Three wards have also been closed to new admissions in a bid to contain the outbreak.
The HSE confirmed two recent deaths at the hospital of patients who had C Diff had been notified to the coroner. “If a patient dies who may have been exposed to or who had contracted clostridium difficile, their death is notified to the coroner who is responsible for determining if clostridium difficile was the cause of and/or contributory factor to their death,” it said in a statement.
It added that infection control procedures had been implemented.
The public is asked not to visit the hospital without telephoning in advance. GPs and ambulance services have been requested to refer patients to other hospitals.
They have been told to refer adults with medical complaints to hospitals in Dundalk, Navan or Dublin and to refer adults with surgical complaints to hospitals in Cavan, Navan or Dublin.
“Members of the public are asked to only attend the emergency department at the hospital in the case of a genuine emergency and to contact their GP or out-of-hours service in the first instance.
“Patients may experience delays in the emergency department and regrettably, due to the number of beds closed to new admissions, we have delays in patients awaiting admission,” the HSE said.
A spokeswoman added that there would normally be three cases of C Diff reported at the Lourdes hospital every month. It was when the higher than normal number of cases were detected in recent days that staff were alerted to the outbreak.
C Diff has been a notifiable infection in the State since May 2008. Since then some 3,196 cases of infection have been reported by hospitals across the State to the national Health Protection Surveillance Centre.
A number of patient deaths were also associated with previous outbreaks of the infection at other hospitals.
An outbreak at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin last year was linked to the deaths of three patients, while an outbreak at University College Hospital Galway last year was also a contributory factor in a number of patient deaths.