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Pat's Note: The latest news coming in overnight. The centre of theWestern world has shifted to the smallest of Canada's provinces.
Whether they find a connection or not with pigs and/or pork, they will have little option but to make it public immediately.
Confirmation in field conditions of the "Gardiner Hypothesis" will save thousands of human lives.
Not every profession has the low moral standards of Britain's pampered secretive and greedy veterinarians.
http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/index.cfm?sid=193490&sc=98
QEH tests for bug WAYNE THIBODEAU The Guardian
The source of a superbug at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown remains unknown, but hospital administration say if it’s determined to be staff, the public will not be informed.
More than 300 staff at the province’s largest referral hospital are being tested for the antibiotic-resistant bacteria known as MRSA or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Rick Adams, CEO of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said about 290 staffers have already been screened.
“In terms of the test results, we’re not going to be making anything public,’’ Adams told The Guardian. “We want to make sure the environment here is supportive of staff and create a climate where they can feel comfortable and open to come forward and be screened knowing that any results will be kept strictly confidential.’’
Adams said he realizes a solid argument can be made that the public should be informed if the source is found and that source is a staff member. But he said the public should also realize the hospital is doing everything it can to prevent a further spread of the superbug.
“The staff are under enormous pressure. They feel like they are under a microscope.’’
Nine newborns and one mother have now tested positive for MRSA. Five of those nine cases can be connected to the same source.
The bacteria is centered in Unit 4, the nursery.
A number of staff are being directed to be tested, from doctors and nurses to cleaning and dietary staff — anybody who had contact withthe nursery.
Testing includes swabs of the nose and mouth and any open wounds on the hands.
If a positive test is found, Adams said they will have to go through a thorough decolonization process that includes ointment in the nose, bathing with an antibacterial soap and changing bed sheets daily for a period of seven days.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr. Lamont Sweet said healthy babies do not normally become sick even if they are found to be carrying MRSA.About 130 Islanders have tested positive for MRSA this year in P.E.I.
Adams said the hospital continues to restrict visitors, and use heightened environmental cleaning and infection control measures. He said the increased testing at the hospital will more than likely find a case or two of MRSA, but he said that doesn’t mean those staffers are the source of the outbreak at the hospital.
“The fact that out in the population, I’m advised today, that approximately one per cent of the population at any point in time in P.E.I. would test positive for MRSA. Given that we are screening our staff for it, one would expect that we may find one, two or three cases.’’
25/11/08
