C. difficile cracked in Quebec

[Knitter]

Here's a write-up from the Toronto Star, Thursday December 15, 2005. No mention was made in this article about patients not admitted to hospital or nursing homes, and the numbers quoted are only for hospitalized patients.

C. difficile cracked in Quebec

MONTREAL (CP) - Researchers who cracked the genetic code of the Quebec strain of C. difficile said yesterday it will lead to earlier detection and better patient treatment.

The McGill University research could eventually cut the time to test a patient for C. difficile from two days to an hour, the researchers said.

C. difficile, often prevalent in hospitals and nursing homes, can cause severe diarrhea and lead to death.

In Quebec, the number of infections had soared to 22.5 per 1,000 hospital admissions at the height of the outbreak in 2004 but had dropped to 12.4 by last June, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said.

Historically, Clostridium Difficile was viewed as a nuisance rather than the killer bug it is today. In the rest of Canada, the incidence has stood at about six infections per 1,000 hospital admissions.

The C. difficile genetic code was first cracked by researchers in England, but the North American effort if the first time a virulent strain has been sequenced completely, the McGill University said.[/i]