Fifty to sixty patients die from C. Difficile per month in Ontario hospitals

Ontario has 200 to 300 cases of C. Difficile a month in hospitals, and up to 20 per cent of those patients die, says Dr. Richard Schabas, Ontario's former chief medical officer of health. "That means we have 50 to 60 people a month dying in Ontario hospitals of this disease," said Schabas.

St. Joseph's Hospital in Hamilton currently has a C. Difficile outbreak, with four patients dead. In an earlier 2009 outbreak at the hospital, seven died.

dallan@cupe.ca

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