HEALTH bosses say the increasing number of patients testing positive for a potentially killer hospital bug at Leighton Hospital is not a cause for concern.
Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal 102 patients were diagnosed with Clostridium Difficile (C. diff) in the first four months of 2007, more than two-thirds the number of cases recorded in the whole of last year.
Between April 2006 and April this year, 223 inpatients tested had the bug, which can cause ulceration, bleeding from the colon, peritonitis and even death, in their system. Five Leighton patients died after acquiring the infection during the 12-month period.
Mid Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust also revealed 22 patients had contracted the MRSA 'superbug' during the same period, though the number of deaths from MRSA was not disclosed.
Winsford campaigner Mavis Law, of the MRSA Action UK group, lost her son to MRSA and said the figures are of great concern.
'The situation isn't improving,' she said.
'It must be awful for patients when they're already ill to contract such a terrible infection.
'We can only imagine what they're going through. It must be horrendous.'
Despite the recent rise, rates of C. diff at Leighton fell last year, with 151 recorded infections compared to 230 in 2005, while the annual rate of MRSA at Leighton and Northwich's Victoria Infirmary fell by 34%.
Nationally, MRSA cases, currently around 7,000 a year, are falling.
But health chiefs admit C. diff is a growing problem.
A Trust spokeswoman put the sharp rise down to an outbreak of another virus earlier this year. As a result, the number of people tested for infections increased by 11% and the number of people found to be carrying C. diff in a harmless form distorted the figures, she said.
The trust's associate director of infection prevention, Karen Egan, said: 'Members of staff have worked extremely hard to ensure that high standards of infection prevention and control have impacted on rates of healthcare-associated infections, patient care and clinical outcomes.'
FACT File
* Clostridium difficile (C. diff) is a bacterium present naturally in the stomach of about 3% of adults and 66% of children.
* C. diff doesn't cause any problems in healthy people. However, some antibiotics that are used to treat other conditions can interfere with the balance of 'good' bacteria in the gut. When this happens, C. diff bacteria can multiply and cause diarrhoea, ulceration and bleeding from the colon (colitis) and, at worst, perforation of the intestine leading to peritonitis. In rare cases it can be fatal.
* The infection is more prevalent in elderly patients with serious underlying illnesses.
* C. diff infections can be prevented by good hygiene practices. However, it is extremely contagious and is spread very easily.
