'This C Diff is much more virulent than any strain we have ever experienced' NURSING DIRECTOR NICK COVENEY; 17 KILLED BY WARD BUG.

Byline: By AIDAN McGURRAN

SEVENTEEN patients have died in the past four months after a virulent superbug swept through a hospital, it was revealed yesterday.

Concerned medics said 16 more patients have had to be treated for the deadly 027 strain of Clostridium Difficile - or C. Diff.

Five have had major bowel surgery after being struck down and the other 11 are STILL receiving treatment.

Most of the victims are believed to be over 65 - with some of them in their 80s.

The elderly are particularly at risk of C. Diff - which causes severe diarrhoea, fever and abdominal pain.

The 027 strain produces more harmful toxins than most types and takes hold quickly in patients who are weak.

Last night, senior staff at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston, Norfolk, admitted that the outbreak was a "major concern".

Director of nursing Nick Coveney said: "This strain of C. Diff is much more virulent than any strain we have experienced previously."

It is one of the most serious outbreaks of the bug that has taken over from MRSA as the scourge of hospitals across the country.

Figures in February showed that C. Diff was linked to twice as many deaths as MRSA. And there was a 69 per cent rise in the number of times C. Diff was mentioned on death certificates from 2004 to 2005.

The 17 patients in the current outbreak died between December 1 and March 28 from a variety of causes including multiple organ failure and kidney failure.

But the presence of C. Diff has been noted on their death certificates and is said to have "contributed to their death".

Experts yesterday said they had not identified the source of the bug and could not say if victims contracted it inside or outside the hospital.

Patients who had been taking antibiotics within or outside the hospital were in a high-risk group because of an imbalance in the gut brought on by their drugs.

Different antibiotics to guard against more cases were now being given to patients in the hospital and local community.

The hospital has also spent pounds 400,000 on new precautions. Patients suspected of having C. Diff are being put in isolation rooms and 15 more staff have been recruited to carry out new cleaning procedures.

Mr Coveney said no more than two visitors per bed were being allowed and visitors had to wash their hands in alcohol gel when they entered wards.

Visitors were not allowed to sit on patients' beds and anyone suffering from diarrhoea, vomiting, flu symptoms or chest infections was being told to stay away.

A statement from the James Paget University Hospitals NHS Trust said: "At the beginning of December 2006, we became increasingly concerned about a rise in our normally low background rate of C. Diff.

"Our concerns were heightened by the increasing severity of illness which led us to believe that a new strain of C. Diff was present in the hospital.

"We immediately responded to these changes in the patterns of patients' illness by putting in place a wide range of additional infection control measures."

In the two years up to December 2006, the hospital had 11 patients who had complications from C. Diff recorded on their death certificates.

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OUTBREAK: James Paget Hospital