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Are superbug infections declining in Ontario hospitals?

IN response to a CUPE media conference on superbugs, Nipissing Liberal MPP Monique Smith pointed out that hospitals are now required to report superbug infections.


She said improved tracking of infection rates has produced the lowest infection rates in years, with the rates of infection going down all the time.


Which is an odd claim because the government only instituted superbug reporting (after CUPE had spent years campaigning for it) in August 2008 – a mere two and a half years ago. 

And it’s odder still because the government’s own data proves no such claim.  The  MRSA rate is where it was when the government started reporting;  the C. Difficile rate for January 2010 through January 2011 (0.301)  is very slightly lower than the 2009 average (0.305) , but the January 2011 rate is actually higher (0.34).  The VRE rate continues to be reported as 0.00, with few cases reported (only 8 in all hospitals from October to December 2010).  But, as reported here earlier, the Ottawa Hospital more recently reported that it has diagnosed 360 VRE cases at its facilities.

That’s  quite an increase from 8 cases for the entire province. 

The government’s own reports are below. 

[1] Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Sep-Oct-Nov 2008 - Oct-Nov-Dec 2010

Month
Rate
Sep-Oct-Nov 2008
0.02
Jan-Feb-Mar 2009
0.02
Apr-May-Jun 2009
0.02
Jul-Aug-Sep 2009
0.02
Oct-Nov-Dec 2009
0.03
Jan-Feb-Mar 2010
0.02
Apr-May-Jun 2010
0.02
Jul-Aug-Sep 2010
0.02
Oct-Nov-Dec 2010
0.02


[2] Clostridium Difficile Infection (CDI) Aug-08 - Jan-11


Month
Rate
Aug-08
0.39
Sep-08
0.44
Oct-08
0.39
Nov-08
0.35
Dec-08
0.35
Jan-09
0.36
Feb-09
0.35
Mar-09
0.39
Apr-09
0.32
May-09
0.32
Jun-09
0.29
Jul-09
0.27
Aug-09
0.26
Sep-09
0.26
Oct-09
0.27
Nov-09
0.29
Dec-09
0.28
Jan-10
0.29
Feb-10
0.31
Mar-10
0.34
Apr-10
0.29
May-10
0.30
Jun-10
0.28
Jul-10
0.29
Aug-10
0.29
Sep-10
0.25
Oct-10
0.31
Nov-10
0.34
Dec-10
0.28
Jan-11
0.34


[3]  Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci (VRE) Sep-Oct-Nov 2008 - Oct-Nov-Dec 2010

Month
Rate
Sep-Oct-Nov 2008
0.00
Jan-Feb-Mar 2009
0.00
Apr-May-Jun 2009
0.01
Jul-Aug-Sep 2009
0.00
Oct-Nov-Dec 2009
0.00
Jan-Feb-Mar 2010
0.00
Apr-May-Jun 2010
0.00
Jul-Aug-Sep 2010
0.00
Oct-Nov-Dec 2010
0.00
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Comments

  1. Finn HarvorMarch 9, 2011 at 8:23 PM

    I don't have access to stats, but it's a similar story overseas as well in terms of a general upward creep of infections. Under-staffing at the hospitals concerned doesn't help.

    ReplyDelete

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