C-Difficile not causing alarm at Belleville Hospital

By Marc Venema

Quinte Health Care is seeing an increase in the number of patients with Clostridium Difficile, better known as c-difficile, at Belleville General Hospital.

Quinte Health Care hasn’t declared an outbreak but Belleville General Hospital had seven patients with c-difficile on Thursday, said hospital spokeswoman Susan Rowe.

C-difficile is the same bacterium blamed for 31 deaths in the Niagara region. No fatalities in BGH have been linked to the bacterium, said Rowe.

Rowe said Belleville General Hospital has seen two to four cases of c-difficile per month for many years and the slight increase shouldn’t panic the public.

“The numbers are certainly nothing for people to be alarmed about but it’s something that we want to keep an eye on.”

C-difficile can be found in feces and causes watery diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain or illness.

“People are more aware of it, so people are asking a lot more questions and asking how to protect themselves and that’s a good thing,” Rowe said.

Although the numbers are up, Rowe says the bacterium has been around hospitals for a long time.

“C-difficile has been around in hospitals for 20 to even 30 years so it’s certainly normal to have cases in the hospital,” Rowe said.

Rowe also said the reason people are hearing more about c-difficile is because of the outbreak in Niagara and the severity of the cases.

“It’s becoming much more virulent so the bug seems to be evolving,” Rowe said.

“We are seeing more people getting sick with it and becoming more seriously ill.”

C-difficile is one of the many types of bacteria that can be found in feces. When antibiotics kill your good bowel bacteria, c-difficile can then grow. Older people and people with poor health are most at risk.

Rowe said visitors to the hospital should wash their hands frequently and not come if they’re sick.