Health bosses closed a ward at a Highland hospital yesterday due to an outbreak of a potentially deadly superbug.
Ward 7C at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness was shut to new admissions and transfers yesterday after two patients were confirmed as having a clostridium difficile (C.diff) infec-tion.
The infected patients are being treated in isolation and specialist cleaning is taking place on the ward.
Dr Jonty Mills, consultant microbiologist at Raigmore Hospital, said: “We are obviously very disappointed that there has been an increase in cases. The situation is being closely monitored and is under control.
“The routine monitoring we have in place means we have been able to react quickly and take decisive action to contain the outbreak at an early stage.”
He added: “The risks to healthy patients, visitors and staff are minimal. The actions we are taking are largely to reduce the risk of the infection spreading within the ward environment. Staff will be contacting relatives of patients in the affected area to advise them of the situation and to discuss visiting arrangements.”
As well as isolating patients with symptoms of the infection and carrying out specialist cleaning in ward 7C, several other actions are being taken to combat the outbreak.
These include increasing the frequency of routine cleaning and limiting the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics as the bug particularly affects patients on this type of medication.
Hospital staff are also carrying out intensive surveillance across the hospital for any patients displaying symptoms.
Further measures to control the outbreak include ensuring staff and visitors comply with hand hygiene procedures. Last year, NHS Highland became one of the first health boards in the country to introduce a new, more accurate test to identify C.diff.
In the past few years the hospital has repeatedly closed wards while trying to contain the infection, which was a contributory factor in the death of three patients last year.