These facts health minister Jane Kennedy presented yesterday, 29 Jun 2005.
The statistics reveal the outbreak of the new strain, which last week was confirmed at a 2nd hospital in the UK, is much wider than originally believed.
Hospitals where the strain has appeared are in:
Preston, Birmingham, Winchester, Bristol, Romford, Southampton, Truro, Carshalton, High Wycombe South Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tees, Sunderland, Stoke Mandeville and Exeter.
All 75 known cases of _C. difficile_ 027 have occurred since 1999, the Department of Health said this morning, 30 Jun 2005. A spokesman
said: `This figure has to be put in the historical context - it refers to all the cases that we have ever come across and goes back
to 1999.`
The department rejected the suggestion that the laboratory at Cardiff was unable to cope with the present or any increased demand in the future.
Not surprisingly, this ribotype 027 hypertoxin-producer continues to spread. It is not clear if, aside from the increased amount of toxin
production, the organism is less sensitive to metronidazole or vancomycin.
Source: www.promedmail.org
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