UK C.Diff deaths epidemic

There are 10 times more deaths across the UK from the superbug clostridium difficile among over 65-year-olds than in any other country in the world, figures suggest.

The equivalent of one person dies every hour in our hospitals from this deadly superbug.

It contributes to the deaths of four times as many people as MRSA. It's mutating, getting even stronger and showing signs of resistance to one of only two drugs able to combat it.
Professor Richard James, who runs a leading centre in Nottingham University to investigate hospital infections, said: "The figures for c.difficile show that more than 50 per cent of hospital trusts in the UK have a rate of infection that's more than 10 times that of any other country.

"If you look at the over 65s, which are the group where there are more deaths, then we have more cases there, and therefore more deaths in that age-group than any country in the world by a factor of 10."

His remarks are based on a draft report to the Department of Health from the influential steering group on healthcare-associated infection, which is currently out for consultation.

While the figures are based on English acute NHS trusts, Professor James said they were relevant to the whole of the UK. Professor Brendan Wren, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told Panorama: "The deaths of 6,500 people a year is the equivalent of one person dying every hour in our hospitals."

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