Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that has killed thousands abroad. Now is has been detected in three Australians for the first time. The bacterium was detected in three patients at Melbourne's Epworth Hospital.
This bug is not only highly infectious but also seriously deadly. A particularly high virulent strain of this bug named the “Quebec strain” has earlier affected and killed thousands of people in Britain, North America and Europe over the last ten years. This Quebec strain got its name from an epidemic there in 2003, which caused 7,000 people to fall ill, and killed nearly 1,300 people. The mortality rate for people over 60 was greater than 10 per cent.
According to Epworth Hospital executive medical director Megan Robertson the suspicion of the virulent strain of infection first came to notice in February this year. This was followed by extensive testing and notification to the Victorian Department of Health. Dr. Robertson said, “We have had three confirmed cases of the hypervirulent strain and two of these patients have recovered and been discharged…The other patient is still being treated for an illness not related to this infection. It is not known whether these three cases are linked because the prevalence of this strain in the wider Australian community is unknown, due to lack of testing.” According to her statement, Epworth has stepped up its infection detection, prevention and control protocols. “This particular bug is not destroyed by alcohol so we have to clean with bleach and detergent, but that's well identified with the common strain… So those precautions and those spread measures are no different with the hypervirulent strain, it's just that we need to be more vigilant,” she added. She elaborated that the normal and common strain of Clostridium difficile is a common organism that causes antibiotic induced diarrhoeas in hospitals. However this hypervirulent strain causes serious infection and relapse.
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