Province-wide outbreak difficult to control

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Progressive Conservative Party Leader John Tory is calling on Minister of Health and Long-Term Care David Caplan for an independent investigation into the province-wide outbreak of C. difficile, the infection that has claimed more than 400 lives since 2004.

"We owe it to the families whose relatives have died," Tory said in an interview. "I met a husband who lost his wife at age 58. She went into the hospital for a bad hip. Otherwise, she was healthy."

The government owes it to the public, to assure people that it has done its part to identify the cause of this illness, Tory said. It owes it to the hospitals so they know what they can do to prevent it. He said there is a great deal of public anxiety.

"I know because people have called and told me they're afraid of going to the hospital," he said.

Tory is calling on a short-term 60- to 90-day study that would unearth what happened and how widespread C. difficile has become. Tory said he was dismayed over the lack of effective action by the McGuinty Liberals since becoming aware of the presence of the virulent Quebec strain of C. difficile in Ontario hospitals in 2004. This strain is 20 times more toxic than any other strain of C. difficile, he said. Only after newspapers started reporting C. difficile deaths in Ontario did the McGuinty government act to make the infection reportable, said Tory.

"I call it stonewalling. They don't want an independent study because they're nervous of the results. It happened entirely on their watch. They have to accept responsibility."

Last month, St. Michael's Hospital announced a "small outbreak" of C. difficile in the cardiovascular surgery area. The outbreak happened approximately a week after former Health Minister George Smitherman rejected Opposition demands for a public inquiry into the superbug, believed to be responsible for the deaths of more than 250 patients in Canada last year.

Instead of an inquiry, Smitherman announced hospitals would have to begin publicly reporting their C. difficile rates through a public website beginning Sept. 30.

An independent study, according to Alan Findlay, a spokesperson for Caplan, is not required.

"The studies have been done. Now, it's time for action," he said.

"One-hundred-thirty-seven infectious control positions have been created in hospitals, 14 regional infectious control networks have been created. Hand-washing guidelines have been put in place in all hospitals," he said, citing some of the initiatives the government has done. "The government takes patients' safety very seriously."

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, Clostridium difficile or C. difficile is bacteria that causes diarrhea and more serious intestinal conditions such as colitis.

"It is the most common cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitalized patients in the industrialized world. It is also one of the most common infections in hospitals and long-term care facilities," the agency's website said.

Using antibiotics to try to wipe out infection actually fuels C. difficile, making fighting the condition in health care settings particularly difficult.

- With files from Lisa Queen