THUNDER BAY - Outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been declared in five wards of the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre.
The hospital clarified the situation on Monday, after initial media reports on Friday indicated the outbreak was related to influenza.
"It wasn't influenza. We've been dealing with a multi-drug-resistant bacteria called vancomycin-resistant enterococci, or VRE for short," said Dr. Greg Gamble, an infectious diseases specialist at the TBRHSC.
VRE are a type of bacteria that have developed resistance to many antibiotics, especially vancomycin. They live on the skin or in the intestines, usually without causing problems. But they can lead to serious infections, especially among people who are ill or weak. Infection can occur anywhere in the body, but common sites include the intestines, urinary tract and wounds.
A Public Service Announcement issued by the hospital on Friday referred only to an "outbreak." It requested cooperation from the public in adhering to visitor restrictions, using the hospital's hand-sanitizing locations and avoiding hospital visits if experiencing any signs of gastrointestinal illness such as diarrhea.
Dr. Gamble said that while most people won't experience infection from VRE, some patients are "being colonized with it. What we try to do, and what we're mandated by the province to do, is to prevent the spread of this organism to hospital in-patients."
He said the situation has been made difficult because of the concurrent outbreak of influenza in the community. "That's actually what's kind of tipped us into outbreak, is the demand on hospital beds. The demand for beds, the turnover in beds, becomes very, very challenging with environmental controls, and VRE is kind of a symptom of that," Gamble said.
He noted that some patients, such as those with an artificial hip or artificial heart valve "can get quite sick" from a VRE infection.
Declaring a ward free of VRE can take a couple of weeks, so Dr. Gamble expects the hospital will be in outbreak status for the next few weeks.
"And then again, we've got influenza to worry about as well, and we've had an uptake in Influenza B case now in the community."
The flu season in Thunder Bay started with cases of Influenza A.
"We'll be dealing with those challenges on top of our VRE," Gamble said, "so we really appreciate the public's help" in obeying visitor restrictions and practising hand hygiene.
VRE spreads on unwashed hands, objects and surfaces, but is rarely transmitted through the air.
An infection can be treated with antibiotics that are not resistant to the bacteria.
