Superbug kills almost as many as die on roads

The Daily Telegraph reports today that deaths from the hospital superbug, Clostridium difficile, are fast approaching the number of road fatalities, an expert has said.

Dr John Starr, reader in geriatric medicine at the University of Edinburgh, says that cases of C difficile rose by 5.5% over a year while MRSA cases fell by 4.3%.

"With more than 2,200 deaths attributed to C difficile in death certificates in England and Wales, the mortality rate is fast approaching that for road traffic accidents and is now around half that for suicide," he says in the British Medical Journal.

Road deaths in 2004 were 2,915.

Dr Starr says that more than 50,000 patients over the age of 65 suffered C difficile infection in hospitals in England last year compared with around 7,000 who caught MRSA.

"Control of C difficile is difficult because, unlike MRSA, alcohol hand scrubs are ineffective and its spores are resistant to routine hospital cleaning."

He says that patients on waiting lists should be screened before they are admitted to see if they are carrying the bacterium.