MEDIA RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2010

BROCKVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL DECLARES VRE OUTBREAK OFFICIALLY OVER

The VRE outbreak at the Brockville General Hospital is officially over.

VRE (Vancomycin Resistant Enterococci) is a bacterial strain that can be found in the bowel of humans, and is resistant to the antibiotic vancomycin. VRE is usually spread by direct contact with hands, surfaces or medical equipment that has been contaminated. VRE is not spread through the air by coughing or sneezing. People who have VRE frequently do not have symptoms and do not usually need treatment. 

With an increase in the number of hospital acquired (nosocomial) VRE cases, an outbreak was declared March 22nd. Dr. Dick Zoutman, Regional Infection Control Network Medical Coordinator, made several recommendations which were put into place immediately.

When the results of three weekly rounds of point prevalence testing (hospital wide surveillance) came back consecutively at zero transmission, the outbreak was declared officially over April 30th.

“A sincere commendation goes out to all BGH staff for their hard work and consistent effort put forth to address this VRE outbreak,” says Dana Finnegan-Yee, Infection Control Coordinator at BGH. “The fact that we dealt with the situation in six short weeks is truly remarkable.” 

The staff at BGH also commends the family and friends who visited the patients at BGH during this time for their support with outbreak control.  The adherence to infection control procedures when visiting loved ones is important on an ongoing basis, and especially during an outbreak for successful management.
For more information, please contact:

Maggie Wheeler Communications Officer BROCKVILLE GENERAL HOSPITAL 613-345-5649 Ext. 1-1504

Healthy people – Outstanding Care

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