HEALTH BOSSES at NHS Tayside last night welcomed new figures that show the instances of the potential killer bug Clostridium difficile in the area dropped throughout 2007.

Figures obtained by Dundee-based MSP Marlyn Glen show 607 people were diagnosed with the infection by doctors working for the health authority during the course of the year.

Of these cases 172 were reported in the quarter from January to March, 169 between April and June, 131 between July and September and 135 between October and December.

The rate of infection amongst those aged 65 and over also dropped overall across the year—from 2.6 cases to 1.8 cases per 1000 acute occupied bed days in hospital.

Welcoming the trend, Ms Glen said, “Obviously care has to be taken in interpreting figures over a relatively short period of time, but they demonstrate that NHS Tayside are strongly focused upon the growing problem that C. difficile has presented.

“There are no quick and easy answers to tackling healthcare-associated infections.

“They require action across all areas of hygiene practice and clinical procedures for every patient, and this is what NHS Tayside is doing in the fight against infection.”

It was also revealed that NHS Tayside increased the number of infection control nurses they employ from 14 to 18 full-time equivalent posts.

Dr Gabby Phillips, lead infection control doctor for the authority, said, “NHS Tayside continues to put a high priority on reducing healthcare-associated infections, including C. difficile.

“This requires hard work from many different clinical and non-clinical teams over practice ranging from hand hygiene (on which we have also seen an improvement over the past nine months), cleaning and careful use of antibiotics to training and audits.”

C. difficile is a bacterium found in the gut of up to 3% of healthy adults and 66% of infants, where it rarely causes problems. However, it can cause illness when its growth goes unchecked.