C. difficile superbug likely to spread beyond Quebec: microbiologist

Quebec's epidemic of C. difficile shows all hospitals need to be vigilant about hygiene to prevent the dangerous strain from spreading across Canada, public health experts said Thursday.

Researchers found 7,000 people have been infected with C. difficile in Montreal since 2003, an infection rate that is four times higher than the preceding year.

• INDEPTH: Clostridium difficile FAQs

Clostridium difficile can cause severe diarrhea and death from dehydration.

"We need to take it very seriously," said Dr. Allison McGeer, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital. "[C. difficile] is an increasing problem in the United Kingdom and the United States. We've had a number of big outbreaks in Canada."

Aside from Montreal, hospitals in Calgary and Ottawa have experienced periodic outbreaks.

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So far, evidence suggests the more virulent strain is confined to Quebec. The province is seeing four times the number of infections as the national average.

Tracking C. difficile across Canada

The bacteria may not stay in Quebec, according to Dr. Andrew Simor, a microbiologist at Sunnybrook and Women's College Health Sciences Centre in Toronto. He is a leading a national study on the extent of the C. difficile problem.

"Some of the patients transferred to us from Quebec or from the United States may well bring this organism with them and introduce to Ontario or to other parts of the country," said Simor.

The strain that is killing patients in Quebec has also caused outbreaks in hospitals in at least six states.

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Infectious disease experts said conditions at hospitals in Quebec probably helped to escalate the epidemic. At many older hospitals, three or four patients stay in the same room and share the same bathroom.

The problem is that microscopic spores from feces can survive on surfaces for months. The bacterial spores are very difficult to clean off or kill.

Others said the main factor is health-care workers who fail to wash their hands. People in Quebec are worried about sending family members to affected hospitals, and some are angry the public wasn't told sooner about the problem.

"In this particular outbreak, patients could have done things to protect themselves had they known," said Dr. Ken Flegel, a specialist in internal medicine at Royal Victoria Hospital. "Visitors could have done things to help patients be protected."