Higher rates of C. Difficile detection for better tests

A sensitive diagnostic test implemented last year at the Royal Victoria Hospital is showing consistently higher rates of detection for a potentially fatal superbug than a test currently used at most Montreal hospitals, officials said Wednesday. At least one surgery patient has spoken to The Gazette about being sent home from the Royal Victoria Hospital last month as a preventive measure because of an outbreak of Clostridium difficile, a bacterium that can cause damage to the bowel and lead to severe diarrhea in people at risk. Charles Frenette, medical director of infection control at the McGill University Health Centre, said that while the centre is not facing an outbreak, it has been recording higher rates of C. difficile because its new test is 30 to 40 per cent more sensitive than the former.

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