Pat's Note:

I alway did have that gut feeling that the Hamlilton Spectator would
be the one to stand tall against unbelievable pressure. 

That they were watching Scotland and Northern Ireland was obvious,
they commented on events there, why is something we must wait to be
told. 

It was not chance. They knew something.

They refused to be shaken off and the others noticed.

http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1102105

Editorial


Inquiry into C. diff outbreaks needed
Posted -35 sec ago
  

Hospitals will be forced to publicly report cases of C. difficile as
of Sept. 30, but all long-term care facilities should also be forced
to make statistics public and the province should call an inquiry into
the effect of the superbug, which is reported to have caused some 463
deaths in Ontario over the past 30 months. 

That tally was compiled by the Hamilton Spectator, for no provincial
health body has a handle on the total number of deaths caused by one
of the most common infectious diseases in hospitals. 

How can that happen in a modern health-care system such as Ontario's? 

And how can it be prevented, if we do not know exactly how often the
outbreaks occurred, how they occurred, and what was done about them in
a comprehensive, analytical study? 

C. diff, as it's known, is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and
stomach pains. Most people overcome the disease after a week or so of
treatment, but it can recur in upwards of 30 per cent of the cases and
has known -- as we have seen too often -- to be lethal. The elderly
are especially susceptible to the disease, which can cause an ugly and
painful death. 

It is chiefly spread through contact with contaminated surfaces --
most often through improper handwashing after using the washroom. 

Take into account a recent survey that showed only about 40 per cent
of health-care workers follow proper handwashing procedures, and it's
easy to see the danger in hospitals. 

While some local long-term care facilities won't reveal how many cases
of C. diff they have had, two facilities did -- with the Extendicare
Falconbridge reporting that seven of eight cases experienced there
since March 2007 likely came from Sudbury Regional Hospital. 

And while hospitals will be forced to make public their C. diff cases
as of Sept. 30, the hospital refuses to make those statistics
available now. Why? This is a vital public-health issue. Some
hospitals do track and report C. diff cases, why isn't Sudbury one of
them? Why wait until the provincial government's inexplicably late
orders to act? 

Quebec made reporting mandatory in 2004. C. diff has contributed to
some 2,000 deaths in that province since 2003. 

If there is an inquiry into C. diff in Ontario, the province's long
delay in addressing the issue must be part of it.

 Last year, the Ontario coroner's office determined that 

C. diff caused or contributed to 18 deaths at the hospital in Sault
Ste. Marie and suggested overcrowding and out-of-date facilities may
have contributed to the outbreak. 

In time periods generally covering less than two years, 

C. diff was said to have contributed to 62 deaths at Joseph Brant
Memorial Hospital in Burlington, to 24 in Barrie, 17 in Oakville
Trafalgar Memorial hospital and 37 at Hotel- Dieu Grace Hospital in
Windsor. And these statistics include only those who died -- they do
not include total infections. 

Reporting infections forces hospitals and health-care systems to award
more resources, least they become political nightmares. It is a
pressure tactic. There were about three dozens SARS deaths in Ontario
in 2003, yet the province launched a full-scale inquiry into that
disease. Why not 

C. diff? 

That is has taken years for Ontario to succumb to public 

pressure and that some facilities remain reluctant to release figures
is bound to have an effect on public confidence in the health-care
system. 

A full inquiry, with a plan that includes more than just reporting, is
needed. 


-- 
Regards
Pat Gardiner
Release the results of testing British pigs for MRSA and C.Diff now!
www.go-self-sufficient.com