For the second time in a few months, C. difficile hits the headlines again.
The night before last CTV news featured a story on another outbreak of Clostridium difficile infection at a Lanaudiere regional hospital in Joliette, Quebec. In the last two weeks 17 people have become ill with Clostridium difficile. As the reporter described the bacterial outbreak, text appeared on the screen "VIRUS STRIKES AGAIN". Of course, Clostridium difficile is not a virus, and the image shown later in the newscast that was supposed to represent Clostridium difficile bacterial cells under the microscope was actually gram-positive cocci, not gram positive bacilli.
The newscast also showed security guards at the hospital entrance stationed to ensure that visitors washed their hands before entering and leaving the hospital. I'm not sure what the message was supposed to be...it seemed to suggest that the bacteria was being brought into the hospital on the hands of visitors. As described in an earlier article on the problems encountered by Quebec hospitals in controlling the spread of Clostridium difficile in their facilities, many of the buildings are old and it is difficult to eliminate the spore-form of the bacteria from the hospital environment.
Bacteria that can form spores do so when environmental conditions are not optimal: forming spores allows them to remain viable until conditions provide opportunities for active growth....like a nice warm digestive tract. Spores are difficult to kill and are resistant to alcohol so it was surprising to see alcohol-based hand cleansers being used as an effort to reduce Clostridium difficile infection. Hand-washing is important to reduce the spread of infection, but a little elbow grease with soap and running water would be the approach I would recommend. Perhaps the hand cleansers were to reduce fears associated with getting Clostridium difficile infection while in the hospital, whether as a visitor or a patient??
