Three Scots patients die of lethal new C.diff bug
THREE Scots have died after contracting a new deadly strain of the Clostridium difficile bug, which has not been reported anywhere else in the world.
This is the first published report of C.difficile PCR ribotype 332 in the UK and worldwide.
The patients all died from the ribotype 332 strain of the disease.
Health Protection Scotland (HPS) announced that medical staff have been put on alert.
An HPS report revealed that the 332 strain had been found in two patients treated in the same hospital in December last year and January this year.
In March, a third case of C.diff 332 was reported to HPS from another hospital 15 miles away within the same NHS board. HPS declined to identify the board involved in the outbreak. The report read: “All three cases were severely ill due to other underlying conditions and died following their episode of CDI (C.difficile infection).
“This is the first published report of C.difficile PCR ribotype 332 in the UK and worldwide.”
An inquiry is currently investigating Scotland’s worst outbreak of the superbug, in which 18 people died.
A total of 55 patients developed C.diff at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Alexandria, Dunbartonshire, between December 2007 and June 2008. The bug was later blamed for nine deaths and named as a contributory factor in another nine.